Training IPM Professionals in Rural Areas: A Model to Achieve Sustainable Knowledge

View the project final report

• 2016 annual report

Commodities

• Agronomic: corn, oats, potatoes, sorghum (milo), sugarbeets, wheat
• Vegetables: beans, greens (leafy), onions, sweet corn, tomatoes

Practices

• Education and Training: extension, workshop
• Pest Management: biological control, chemical control, cultural control, disease vectors, economic threshold, eradication, field monitoring/scouting, genetic resistance, integrated pest management, mating disruption, physical control, mulching - plastic, cultivation, prevention, row covers (for pests), sanitation, soil solarization, trap crops, traps, mulching - vegetative, weather monitoring, weed ecology

 Our project provided agriculture personnel from the Pacific Northwest with a high quality, multifaceted training program to increase participants knowledge of IPM.  The program included two and one-half day experiential learning workshops that addressed identification of pest and beneficial organisms, pest damage assessments, scouting techniques, basic experimental methods, and reporting skills.  Workshops were offered at two locations across the Pacific Northwest (Ontario, OR and Aberdeen, ID).  Course plans and educational materials are currently publicly available to encourage others to conduct similar programs (http://extension.oregonstate.edu/umatilla/ipm).  The proposed project builds upon the success of a similar, insect-only course funded by WSARE (2009-2011 Professional Development Program EW09-001: “Empowering Ag Professionals through a Beneficial and Pest Insect Train-the Trainer Course”).  

Objective: Develop the template and materials for ongoing educational activities that will increase the sustainability of agriculture in the Pacific Northwest by training agriculturists to better identify pest (insects, weeds and diseases) and beneficial organisms, thus leading to improved IPM and leading to a more balanced and ecological approach to agriculture.