Project Overview

Reports

Commodities

• Fruits: tree fruit

Target Pests

• Target Pests: bacterial diseases, fungus, insects, various, weeds

Practices

• Pest Management: biological control, biorational pesticides, cultural control, decision support system, economic threshold, mating disruption, modeling, monitoring/scouting, pesticide resistance management, pesticides, precision pesticide use, row covers (for pests), sanitation, weather monitoring

• Production Systems: organic agriculture

The New England and Mid-Atlantic states have long been one of the most significant tree fruit production areas in the U.S., particularly apples, since the 1700s. In 2010, a NE IPM Partnership Grant facilitated the establishment of a Northeast Tree Fruit IPM Working Group (NETFIPMWG). This group of fruit professionals, representing multiple states and organizations (research and extension scientists: entomologists, pathologists, horticulturists, extension educators, industry advisors, and consultants) from NY and New England, have met annually as the New England, New York, and Canadian Fruit Pest Management Workshop for many years. Since then, retirements and other shifts in personnel have left next-generation specialists concerned about loss of institutional memory among the WG. This proposal includes support for continued development of the WG and of the annual WG meeting (including representatives from some mid-Atlantic states and Canadian provinces) to further enhance regional collaborations, update IPM priorities and practices lists, and coordinate research and extension projects.
The outcomes envisioned from the continued functions of this WG include: 1) greater regional collaborations in IPM programs and expertise- record and increase collaborative efforts and projects among WG members, 2) transfer of institutional knowledge from seasoned and retiring to next-generation specialists, 3) increased collaboration among WG Members and external stakeholders, and 4) updating priority tree fruit IPM needs and issues across the entire northeastern US/southeastern Canada region. These outcomes, along with documentation of the impacts of successful fruit IPM strategies on human (including economic) and environmental health, are increasingly relevant to sustainable fruit production and quality of life in the northeast region, and help to link northeast regional fruit IPM objectives to the goals of the National IPM Roadmap.

The main objective of this NE IPM Center Working Group grant is to foster the development and activities of the Northeast Tree Fruit IPM Working Group in the northeastern US region states of CT, MA, ME, NH, NJ, NY, PA, RI, VT and WV, plus the Canadian provinces Ontario, Nova Scotia and Québec, to promote collaborative ties across this unique fruit-producing region and to:
1) Foster greater regional collaborations in IPM programs and expertise- record and increase collaborative efforts and projects among WG members;
2) Facilitate transfer of information between and to next-generation IPM professionals- Provide opportunities for engagement and peer-to-peer training for specialists to preserve institutional memory, and provide opportunities for student involvement to encourage future generations.
3) Increase collaboration among WG Members and external stakeholders- recognize and increase collaboration with private consultants and other non-academic members of the WG;
4) Identify and update priority tree fruit IPM needs and issues across the entire northeastern US/southeastern Canada region- refine and reassess priorities to maintain up-to-date assessment of research and outreach needs in the region.