Project Overview
Annual Reports
Commodities
Practices
- Crop Production: application rate management
- Education and Training: workshop
- Pest Management: biological control, integrated pest management
Proposal abstract:
This project targets North Central Region growers who have a farming goal of pesticide reduction, including organic growers. The publication “Biological Control of Insects & Mites” will be used throughout the North Central Region states to provide an introduction to beneficial natural enemies and how they may be used in pest management. There exists such a publication for the North Central Region, written in 1993. Not only is this publication out-of-print, there have been significant advances in biological control since then. We propose to revise “Biological Control of Insects & Mites” in the first year of our three-year request (2005-06). Year two would focus on publication review and production (2006-07). Five farmers and five entomologists will review the draft to ensure its usefulness. We propose to print 5,000 copies for key educators and other agricultural professionals in the region and specifically for use in biological control workshops to be offered in year three (winter 2007-2008) in IA, IL, IN, OH, MI, NE, and WI. A viewable PDF will be available for growers and others to read on-line or download.
Project objectives from proposal:
This project targets North Central Region growers who have a farming goal of pesticide reduction, including organic growers. The primary short term outcome is the production of “Biological Control of Insects & Mites”. The intermediate outcome is to organize and offer workshops in multiple states, designed to use the book to increase farmer and other agricultural professionals’ knowledge on biological control. In addition to using the book for bio-control workshops, the publication will be targeted for distribution throughout the North Central Region states to provide farmers and others with an introduction to beneficial natural enemies and how they may be used in pest management. An electronic PDF file of the book will be available on-line for people to view and download at the UW Extension web site. Links to an electronic publication will be added to Wisconsin IPM websites that are managed by project participants. In addition to workshops in Wisconsin, Nebraska, Illinois, Iowa, Ohio, Indiana, and Michigan the publication would be used at the Upper Midwest Organic Farmers Conference, and other grower workshops where fruit and fresh vegetable growers assemble to learn about pest management strategies. Long-term outcomes would be increased use of biological control methods by organic growers and increased interest in advanced IPM strategies from conventional farmers.