Project Overview

Reports

Commodities

• Agronomic: peanuts

Target Pests

• Target Pests: bacterial diseases, fungus, insects, nematodes, other, weeds

Practices

• Pest Management: decision support system, modeling, monitoring/scouting, other

County and regional Extension agents across the Southeastern United States routinely encounter complex field problems involving diseases, pests, weeds, and nutrient disorders. Prevention of these issues depends on proactive integrated pest management strategies; however, creating an effective IPM plan requires significant knowledge of potential pests and pathogens, as well as local and regional history of outbreaks.

Despite this, there is no standardized, regionally connected system to document field issues, track management outcomes, or summarize data for Extension reporting or stakeholder communication. As a result, valuable observations often remain isolated within individual programs, counties, or states. This fragmentation introduces inefficiency and inconsistency into annual reports, factsheets, and stakeholder updates. Data is also often not readily accessible to Extension agents for use in management recommendations.

Peanut production, which is economically significant to many southern states, routinely faces threats from plant diseases and weed, arthropod, and nematode pests. This makes peanuts an ideal crop system for developing a coordinated, multistate framework that uses the existing EDDMapS Pro platform for data collection and sharing. Through a pilot framework in the EDDMapS mobile application, Extension agents will document field problems directly during site visits, creating standardized and sharable datasets. Connecting previously isolated data across states will strengthen regional communication about peanut production issues, enhance responsiveness to pest and disease threats, and improve IPM decision-making throughout the southeastern peanut production region.

This working group will unite peanut Extension experts, IPM personnel, and researchers from Florida, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Alabama to develop and implement a shared digital workflow for real-time collection, verification, and reporting of disease and pest issues. An Extension agent advisory panel representing multiple states will provide oversight to ensure that the system is practical and tailored to their needs. The group will work with Southern IPM Center Project Support Specialist and Co-Director Joe LaForest to develop and deploy an EDDMapS Pro framework for peanut IPM data collection, storage, and visualization.

In the first two months of the grant, the working group will hold two multistate meetings of specialists, agents, and IT personnel to establish metadata and image-verification standards, define data-sharing protocols, and develop training materials for Extension agents on app use. Data and images collected during the project will also be used to produce a Peanut Field Guide, a laminated in-field reference modeled after UF’s Watermelon Field Guide. Verified images will be added to the Bugwood Image Database, creating a larger online visual resource for peanut production issues.

The working group will create a lasting, multistate knowledge-sharing network among peanut researchers and Extension personnel, improving communication and understanding of peanut IPM challenges across the Southeast. The agent advisory panel will help ensure that project activities address real-world Extension needs.

The new reporting framework will allow peanut IPM personnel and Extension agents to consistently document disease and pest observations, producing records that reveal trends in incidence and spread and help predict emerging issues. This data will directly support peanut IPM decision-making and the creation of Extension reports, factsheets, and stakeholder updates. The framework will also serve as a model for regionally coordinated, technology-enabled IPM reporting that may be expanded to additional crops or regions.

The Peanut Field Guide and addition of verified images to the Bugwood Database will provide accessible resources on peanut production issues for Extension agents and other IPM personnel. Together, these resources will support informed management recommendations and help reduce yield and profit losses from peanut pests and diseases.

• Establish the Southeastern Peanut IPM working group
• Collaborate with Southern IPM Center project using EDDMapS Pro to develop and implement a regional field issue scouting and reporting framework/app
• Develop and deliver agent trainings and support materials for use of the app
• Develop regional and local extension resources using collected data and images that will be stored publicly
• Evaluate project effectiveness and plan for multi-crop expansion