Extension IPM Coordination Program for Kansas

NON-TECHNICAL SUMMARY: Kansas is considered part of the "bread basket" of America. Our grain, forage and meat production is critical to the economy of the state and has great impact on the nation and the world. Highlights for 2007 agricultural production in Kansas were over 10 million acres of wheat worth over $1.7 billion (2nd in the Nation), 3.7 million acres of corn worth $2 billion (8th in the Nation) and 6.4 million cattle and calves (3rd in the Nation). The Extension-IPM Coordination project addresses coordination, design, development, implementation and evaluation of Extension IPM programs. The Kansas program is multidisciplinary, including extension faculty and applied researchers from departments of entomology, plant pathology, agronomy and horticulture. No formal collaborations outside K-State are proposed. In addition to supporting a professional IPM Coordinator position the three emphasis areas targeted in the project, and specific crops or systems in each are: 1) IPM in Agronomic Crops, including wheat, corn, sorghum, soybeans and others crops; 2) Consumer and Urban IPM systems, specifically consumer-related ornamental horticulture and the Master Gardener programs; and 3) IPM for Pests of Humans and Disease Vectors, specifically biting flies, mosquitoes, ticks, spread of food-borne illnesses and medically important human disease such as West Nile Virus and various tick-transmitted diseases.

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APPROACH: The IPM Coordinator position will track the correspondence between the university and CSREES, monitor the budget, coordinate the programs and providing feedback or reports to CSREES U.S.D.A., oversee the IPM-grant funded areas of emphasis, collect data and information from extension specialists connected with activities related to the 3 areas of IPM emphasis for Kansas. The IPM coordinator will be the lead contact from Kansas to the North Central IPM Center. Some NC-IPM center requests are in the form of answering requests from EPA on pesticide use patterns, amounts, and application techniques. Others are in distribution of pest alerts, gather information from specific grower groups, or making connections with relevant persons on larger IPM initiatives. For Field Crops IPM we will focus on education for agricultural producers and will continue to center on crop-based pest management presentations. Presentations may focus on single topics such as weed management, insect identification, crop scouting, sprayer calibration, or pesticide application, or can cover combined topics to meet the needs of specific audiences. Pest management education may also be integrated into other extension and outreach training activities such as crop production schools and water quality meetings. The Consumer/Urban IPM objective includes two sub-areas: horticultural products IPM and Master Gardener training. The horticultural IPM program involves scientists from the departments of Horticulture, Entomology, and Plant Pathology and deals with pest problems on a wide variety of plants. Presentations are to industry or product association meetings, or at meetings arranged to train volunteers such as the Master Gardener Program. The second sub-area, the Master Gardener Program, is county-based and therefore funds have not been available before to develop a state-wide database. Such a database will allow us to communicate with our Master Gardeners to assist them in providing the best information available to our clients. Our Master Gardeners provide over 80,000 hours of volunteer time each year in Kansas, including over 30,000 contacts on Master Gardener Hotlines from just two of our largest, urban counties. The database would include a communication function via e-mail that would allow us to provide information on training opportunities as well as pest alerts on potential problems. For IPM of Pests of Humans we will maintain the training and updating of county agents, county health department professionals and sanitarians new information on biology, control, and prevention of arthropods affecting animal and human health and productivity. The West Nile Virus surveillance program may continue in Kansas during 2009.