Project Overview

Reports

Commodities

• Fruits: berries (strawberries)

Target Pests

Practices

Crop Profiles and Pest Management Strategic Plans are considered up to date for five years after their publication. Despite their short life span and importance as resources to justify funding allocation and plant protection product regulations, some commodities are still lacking these documents or are completely out to date for high revenue commodities such as strawberries. Covering priorities and practices from major strawberry-producing states such as FL is vital to maintain up-to-date information in a constantly changing industry. Similarly, smaller producers in states further north like VA are often overlooked and lack guidelines to improve their systems. Thus, information in the Southeastern strawberry producing states needs to be assessed and updated. Based on our experience, strawberry growers further south have larger acreage productions and tend to attend agricultural events crossing state lines. In NC, a mix of small and large productions represents the transition area to smaller and more patchy strawberry production systems like the ones encountered in VA, where pick-your-own systems and family farms are the most common form of production. Therefore, having two sessions to update the PMSP will allow us to cover more of the different practices and priorities across geographies.