Greenhouse IPM Scout School: Grower Input to Create the Curriculum

View the project final report

Commodities

• Additional Plants: ornamentals

Practices

• Crop Production: other
• Education and Training: other
• Pest Management: field monitoring/scouting, integrated pest management
• Production Systems: other

The greenhouse industry is economically important in the Northeast. Because of the high value and aesthetic demands of the crops, pesticides are often the primary pest management method used. The availability of trained greenhouse IPM scouts would help growers limit pesticides to necessary applications, reducing economic, environmental and health risks.

Information on scouting methods and some web-based training programs are available, although not always for greenhouse crops.  Using active learning techniques and providing information with live presenters to allow questions and discussion through a webinar format can expand both the potential audience and their likelihood of, and confidence in, using the information that they learned.

The objective of this project is to create a curriculum of grower-approved topics based on the needs of the industry to use in a Greenhouse IPM Scout School Certificate Program.  The program is intended for current greenhouse workers who would benefit from additional training in scouting, those seeking employment in the greenhouse industry for whom a certificate in IPM scouting would be an advantage, and current students as an enhancement to their college/university training. A grower advisory panel will help us identify the most appropriate topics that a greenhouse scout would need. For each topic, we will design live webinar-based presentations and associated digital, hard copy and human resources, active learning hands-on activities with question and answer discussion sessions, and the most appropriate cooperative learning platforms to support them.

This proposal seeks to create a curriculum of topics based on the needs of the industry to use in a Greenhouse IPM Scout School Certificate Program. For each topic, we will design live webinar-based presentations and associated hands-on activities, discussion sessions, and resource lists to provide grower-approved training combined with current active learning techniques. For the program as a whole we will determine the best platform for delivering the information and interacting synchronously and asynchronously with students across the Northeast region.

Curriculum and program development is the first step to reach the ultimate objective: Trained IPM scouts available to work in the Northeast greenhouse industry.  The certificate training would be available to existing greenhouse employees or students planning on entering the industry. As scouting is the basis of effective pest management, having trained scouts available will improve the efficacy of pest management and reduce unnecessary pesticide applications, with the potential to positively affect the environment and human health.