Project Overview

Reports

Commodities

• Additional Plants: greenhouse, herbs, other

• Community and Urban Pest Management: commercial, food preparation, safety & storage, institution/shelters/municipal buildings/public places, other, public health, school & child care

• Ecosystem: Ecosystem

• Fruits: melons, small fruit

• Human Health: workers, residents, applicators

• Vegetables: asparagus, beans, beans (snap), beets, brassicas, broccoli, brussel sprouts, cabbages, carrots, cauliflower, celery, cucurbits, eggplant, garlic, greens (leafy), greens (lettuces), leeks, okra, onions, other, parsnips, peas (culinary), peppers, radishes (culinary), rutabagas, sweet corn, sweet potatoes, tomatoes, turnips

Target Pests

Practices

• Pest Management: behavioral control, biological control, biorational pesticides, botanical pesticides, chemical control, competition, compost extracts, cultivation, cultural control, decision support system, disease vectors, economic threshold, exclusion, flame, forecasting, habitat modification, mating disruption, mechanical control, monitoring/scouting, mulches - general, mulches - killed, mulches - living, mulching - plastic, mulching - vegetative, pesticides, prevention, row covers (for pests), sanitation, soil solarization, trap crops, traps

• Crop Production: cover crops, crop rotation, double cropping, food product quality/safety, grafting, greenhouses, high tunnels or hoop houses, intercropping, irrigation, low tunnels, multiple cropping, no-till, nurseries, nutrient management, organic fertilizers, plant breeding and genetics, pollination/pollinator health/habitat, row covers (for season extension), season extension types and construction, seed saving, shade cloth, varieties and cultivars, water management, water storage, winter storage

• Natural Resources/Environment: biodiversity, other, soil stabilization

• Production Systems: agroecosystems, organic agriculture, other, permaculture

• Soil Management: composting, green manures, organic matter, soil microbiology, soil quality/health

• Sustainable Communities: local and regional food systems, public participation, public policy, quality of life, sustainability measures, urban agriculture

Urban farms and community gardens represent a smaller resource base than their conventional counterparts, however, they contribute greatly to food systems that serve audiences that may not have access to fresh and healthy foods. Because urban growers are often beginning farmers and from historically underserved populations it is important to create appropriate, effective, and accessible research-based resources related to critical topics like pest management.  Currently, there are too few research-based IPM resources tailored for the urban agriculture community and additional access barriers continue to exist.

In recognition of the need and to help bridge this gap, NIFA-USDA via the North Central IPM Centers funded the formation of a Great Lakes Urban Agriculture IPM working group to convene urban agriculture professionals, to directly benefit urban growers. The work began in 2016 and has continued to the present. Collaboration among the network of Extension Educators and faculty researchers working within urban agriculture remains central to the working group’s efforts. The collaborative work culminates at our annual meeting as an opportunity to share each other’s research and experience. The working group has created a total of 11 pest-specific information cards tailored for urban growers and 4 more will be complete by the end of the current grant cycle. These cards have addressed the lack of IPM resources available for urban growers and have been and will be distributed to our clientele. Last year, knowing the growing importance of virtual platforms, 3 free IPM webinars were held with over 500 views across 8 states.

The group is seeking renewal for the 2023-24 grant cycle. The objectives for the 2023-2024 working group are: 1) Organize an annual planning meeting to provide networking and collaboration opportunities presentations and site visits, 2) Create 9 virtual tours of model urban farms detailing pest management, and 3) Offer three webinars on topics of interest to urban growers.

To improve IPM resources and programs we can make them more appropriate and accessible. Peer-to-peer, onsite learning is a preferred form of learning for urban farmers—it is also an effective education method when educating and working towards the adoption of new practices such as pest management strategies. In this proposal, we have placed more focus on virtual technologies because 1) they have the potential to provide this peer-to-peer, onsite learning, and 2) they have the potential to overcome the barriers, such as ability, time, and cost to travel to such events.

The virtual tours are 360-degree snapshots of the farm so that a viewer can move through the farm and look at all its features. A working group member developed an approach to creating virtual urban farm tour experiences.  From our 2002 webinar series, we have evidence that urban growers are interested in this technology. Three other working group members have committed to working with their local urban growers to image farms in their states and embed IPM information.  We will debut at least one of these virtual tours in a webinar to show urban growers the results.

The objectives for the 2023-2024 working group are:

1) Organize an annual planning meeting to provide networking and collaboration opportunities presentations and site visits,

2) Create 9 virtual tours of model urban farms detailing pest management information,

3) Offer three webinars on topics of interest to urban growers.