BALANCING SPECIES PROTECTION AND SOYBEAN PRODUCTION: A SYSTEMS APPROACH TO ENDANGERED SPECIES ACT PESTICIDE MITIGATIONS

Our goal is to bring together diverse stakeholders to establish a framework for integrating conservation for listed species in local agricultural landscapes that can be broadly applied to other localities/agricultural production systems and ultimately integrated into national pesticide registration decisions.By establishing this framework and working collaboratively with stakeholders, we will advance the scientific understanding of interactions in a managed system and build on existing management and/or conservation practices to develop resilience-based strategies for species conservation and agricultural productivity. We will use a localized approach, focusingon a specific cropping system, soybean and soybean rotation systems, in a specific growing region, Nebraska and Iowa. This local system provides a particular example of how this conservation framework must include adaptive management solutions for producers and listed species, given the emergence of a new production stressor, soybean gall midge. This new pest, while specifically impacting soybean fields, more broadly affects agricultural producers' attitudes towards pollinator habitat initiatives, cover crop practices, and other initiatives due to their potential role in harboring the pest.We are proposing a 2-day workshop to gather key stakeholders in this region to:Develop a level of understanding and trust among the diverse stakeholders to better appreciate the intent and impact of species and agricultural conservation practices.Identify co-benefits and potential consequences of conservation practices for species protection and production agriculture.Develop next steps for an adaptive management plan to address species conservation with changing agricultural productivity stressors.Identify research gaps to move the agricultural and natural resource conservation communities forward.