Project Overview
War against Weeds Podcast – Exploring Strategies to Communicate Integrated Weed Management Principles to Mitigate Herbicide Resistance
Commodities
- Agronomic: canola, corn, potatoes, sorghum (milo), soybeans, sugarbeets, sunflower, wheat
- Human Health: workers, residents, applicators
Target Pests
Practices
- Pest Management: chemical control, cultivation, cultural control, mechanical control, monitoring/scouting, pesticide application timing, pesticide resistance management, pesticides, sanitation, weed ecology
- Crop Production: cover crops, crop rotation, cropping systems
Proposal abstract:
Managing herbicide resistant weeds requires effective, timely communication of research-based information to farmers and agronomists. However, traditional outreach methods are less effective in light of changing preferences. Podcasts have become popular in American society and have proven to be effective at conveying information in a number of fields, but have not been examined in the area of pest management. This proposal seeks to form a working group that will develop and disseminate a podcast called 'War Against Weeds' that will current, relevant information related to integrated weed management. Specifically, we propose: recording and sharing approximately 30 full-length podcasts plus approximately 15 shorter podcasts; surveying podcast listeners and other Extension clientele to determine the effectiveness of podcasts for information dissemination; and sharing our podcasting experiences and survey results with other IPM professionals. The podcast will target farmers and other agricultural professionals throughout the North Central region. We anticipate the information provided will increase listeners' knowledge and willingness to adopt effective integrated weed management strategies. In addition, providing evidence to support the adoption of new communication technologies will support the adoption of new communication methods in other outreach programs.
Project objectives from proposal:
Objective 1: Record 3 seasons of podcasts that include a variety of guests discussing weed management information relevant to production agriculture.
Objective 2: Survey podcast listeners and other Extension clientele in the North Central Region to assess the effectiveness of podcasting for information dissemination. A companion survey of podcast listeners will assess the effects of information provided on understanding and adoption of integrated weed management across demographic groups and geographic regions, and gather feedback for improvements.
Objective 3: Disseminate findings of the feedback to other weed science and IPM professionals at annual meetings.
