Posts Tagged: IPM
Online course helps control pests, protect children
Pest management professionals can learn about the requirements of California's Healthy Schools Act by taking a free online course provided by the UC Statewide Integrated Pest Management Program (UC IPM), part of University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources (UC ANR).
To minimize children's exposure to pesticides, California requires pest control operators providing services in schools and licensed child care centers to comply with a series of laws called the Healthy Schools Act. The laws promote integrated pest management (IPM) in public K–12 schools and licensed private child care centers.
The free course Providing Integrated Pest Management Services in Schools and Child Care Settings explains what the Healthy Schools Act requires of schools, child care centers and pest control companies when managing pests in these environments.
"Taking the online course makes it easier to understand and comply with the laws," said Andrew Sutherland, UC ANR Cooperative Extension IPM advisor. "Pest management professionals can take the course at their convenience. It tells them everything they need to know about the Healthy Schools Act and IPM in order to do business with a school or child care center."
The course also includes a section on how companies can prosper by incorporating IPM principles and practices into their businesses.
"This is an opportunity for operators to take their businesses to the next level by adopting IPM practices," Sutherland said. "IPM effectively and efficiently manages pests, builds professionalism within providers, and captures value for the customer while minimizing pesticide applications, pesticide exposures and associated negative impacts on children's health, the environment and the larger community."
Licensed pest-management professionals can receive continuing education units by completing the online course: one "Rules and Regulations" and one "IPM" from the Structural Pest Control Board; and one "Laws and Regulations" and one "Other" from the Department of Pesticide Regulation.
UC Berkeley's Center for Environmental Research and Children's Health is developing a database of individuals who complete the course so that schools and child care centers can connect with pest control providers who are familiar with IPM and the Healthy Schools Act.
The training module was developed by Sutherland and collaborators at UC Berkeley and UC San Francisco, with input from California pest management professionals and child care providers.
To take the free Providing Integrated Pest Management Services in Schools and Child Care Settings course, see the UC IPM website http://ucanr.edu/ipm4schools.
This project was funded by the California Department of Pesticide Regulation Pest Management Alliance Program. For more information about the Healthy Schools Act, visit the California Department of Pesticide Regulation's School IPM web page http://apps.cdpr.ca.gov/schoolipm.
An initiative to maintain and enhance healthy families and communities is part of the UC Agriculture and Natural Resources Strategic Vision 2025.
From superweeds to Pierce’s disease: California Agriculture reports on fighting diseases and pests
An article in the current issue of California Agriculture, the peer-reviewed journal from the University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources, examines the spread of herbicide-resistant weeds in California and shows how UC researchers and Cooperative Extension specialists are helping growers to understand and manage the factors that drive it.
Five more articles in this special issue of California Agriculture highlight the work of UC Agriculture and Natural Resources on pests and diseases that threaten the state's people, agriculture and natural resources. The commitments to research and outreach profiled in the issue include the Endemic and Invasive Pests Strategic Initiative, the UC Statewide IPM Program and several successful collaborations with regulatory agencies and the agricultural community.
Diagnostics in animal health: How UC helps exclude and minimize impact of livestock pathogens
Whether it's pinkeye, bluetongue or poisonous plants, UC maintains a strong network of laboratories and field experts to protect livestock health in California.
Regional alliances of federal, state and university plant diagnostic labs work together to identify and control disease spread.
Managing newly established pests
Growers, scientists and regulators collaborate on European grapevine moth program
A regulatory program coordinated by government agencies, scientists and growers successfully contained an infestation that threatened California vineyards.
The 1999 arrival in California of a new Pierce's disease vector, the glassy-winged sharpshooter, posed a major new threat to California vineyards and orchards. A 15-year collaborative effort has successfully contained the sharpshooter and led to major improvements in our understanding of the biology of Pierce's disease, including promising advances in the development of disease-resistant grapevine lines.
Maintaining long-term management
Herbicide-resistant weeds challenge some signature cropping systems
Little or no crop rotation and limited herbicide options have contributed to the rise of herbicide-resistant weeds in orchards, vineyards and rice fields.
Over 35 years, integrated pest management has reduced pest risks and pesticide use
The UC Integrated Pest Management Program helps provide management solutions for invasive pests that destabilize IPM programs in agricultural and urban landscapes.
E-edition research article
The cost of the glassy-winged sharpshooter to California grape, citrus and nursery producers
The spread of the invasive insect in the late 1990s led to increased costs and changes in agricultural practices for grape, citrus and nursery producers.
These articles and the entire October-December 2014 issue are available at http://californiaagriculture.ucanr.edu.
California Agriculture is the University of California's peer-reviewed journal of research in agricultural, human and natural resources. For a free subscription, go to http://californiaagriculture.ucanr.edu or write to calag@ucanr.edu.
University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources is the bridge between local issues and the power of UC research. UC ANR's advisors, specialists and faculty bring practical, science-based answers to Californians. Visit ucanr.edu to learn more.
New online course helps PCAs manage pesticide resistance
When a pesticide is applied, some individual insects or weeds are killed and others are not. The individuals that are not killed vary genetically from the ones that were killed, and when they reproduce, their offspring are also likely not to be susceptible to the pesticide. Over time, the population changes and you are left with the genetically resistant individuals as the majority of the population. Resistant pests can result in higher pesticide rates being applied and more frequent applications. We see resistance occurring in weeds, insects and pathogens.
Pest control advisers and growers are often the first to see what is going on in the field. After a pesticide is applied, they may be the first to report back to researchers if the application was effective or not. If they see patterns of decreased susceptibility of a pest population to a pesticide that was previously effective at controlling the pest, they may conclude that resistance is occurring. Pesticide resistance is the topic of a new online course developed by UC IPM that can help PCAs and other licensed pesticide applicators recognize resistance when it is occurring, discover how it developed, apply practical methods of managing it and delay its occurrence.
The new online course covers resistance within the disciplines of plant pathology, entomology and weed science. It is based on a series of workshops on resistance management held in Davis, Fresno and at the UC Kearney Agricultural Research and Extension Center during the spring of 2014 presented by UC Cooperative Extension specialists Doug Gubler (Dept. of Plant Pathology, UC Davis.), Larry Godfrey (Dept. of Entomology and Nematology, UC Davis), Beth Grafton-Cardwell (Lindcove Research and Extension Center and UC Riverside Dept. of Entomology), and Kassim Al-Khatib (UC Statewide IPM Program).
There are several mechanisms through which pests become resistant to pesticides. One mechanism common to all three disciplines is target site alteration, where the site a pesticide normally attacks is somehow altered and no longer allows a pesticide to bind and affect the pest. Metabolic resistance is another mechanism, where pests detoxify or break down the chemical before it can work.
Although some differences occur in delaying or managing resistance across the disciplines, the key is to try to avoid intensive applications of pesticides so as not to allow resistant pests to become the majority of the population. Good IPM practices can reduce the need for pesticide applications. Rotating chemicals with different modes of action can also help manage resistance.
For an in-depth look at pesticide resistance, check out the new course at http://www.ipm.ucanr.edu/training/pesticide_resistance.html. This course has been approved for two continuing education units in the “Other” category from the Department of Pesticide Regulation.
Oh the weather outside is fungal - It’s like a mushroom jungle
Mushrooms are popping up all over California thanks to the wet rainy weather we have had across the state recently. They seem to magically appear overnight, like umbrellas on a sunny beach day. This fascinating occurrence doesn't actually happen overnight as it may seem, but they appear once moisture becomes available. Mushrooms expand rapidly by absorbing water from the surrounding soil and consequently ‘pop' out of the ground.
Mushrooms are the fruiting body of a fungus and come in myriad shapes, sizes and colors. They are typically the only part of a fungus that can be seen because the mass of the organism is located underground.
There are approximately 14,000 different classified species of mushrooms, here are a few of my favorites:
The next time you see mushrooms, consider what might be happening underground in your soil. For more information on mushrooms including identification and management, visit UC IPM online.
Enjoy the wet weather and the next time you find yourself excited over a new fungal find, here is a jingle to celebrate the season:
Let it Rain (sung to the tune of ‘Let it Snow')
by Ann King Filmer
Oh the weather outside is fungal
It's like a mushroom jungle
But since we've got much to gain
Let it rain! Let it rain! Let it rain!
UC scientists help clarify use of insecticide
The report, Identifying and Managing Critical Uses of Chlorpyrifos in Alfalfa, Almonds, Citrus and Cotton, was commissioned by the California Department of Pesticide Regulation (CDPR) earlier this year and submitted by UC IPM in October 2014.
“We feel the department entrusted UC IPM with this task because of its reputation for developing effective IPM systems and its track record in bringing groups together to address challenging issues,” said Pete Goodell, UC Cooperative Extension advisor for integrated pest management and report principal investigator. Lori Berger, also of the statewide IPM program, was the project coordinator.
To gather input for the report, Goodell and Berger formed four “crop teams” with leaders from the alfalfa, almond, citrus and cotton industries. While chlorpyrifos is used in many of California's more than 300 crops, these four crops were selected due to the amount of acreage treated and insecticide use patterns. Combined, these commodities are grown on about 2.5 million acres and valued at more than $10 billion per year in California.
Chlorpyrifos is a common insecticide used under the trade names Lorsban, Lock-on and generic formulations to control ants, stink bugs, aphids, whiteflies and other pests. The report details the insecticide's use patterns as compared to other pest control tactics, such as resistant varieties, mating disruption, field sanitation and other insecticides.
“Our industry teams told us that chlorpyrifos is an essential component of their IPM programs,” Goodell said. “The teams believe decision support tools would be useful to help pest control advisers and growers recognize the critical use scenarios that require its application.”
As a part of the discussions, the teams asked that CDPR develop comprehensive, science-based information about the specific risk pathways posed by chlorpyrifos and work with the industry to develop any new application safety measures. The representatives of the agricultural community also asked that new human health data from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency be considered in future CDPR regulatory decision-making to ensure that the most current data available informs their decisions.
For the second phase of the project, UC IPM will hold outreach meetings in 2015 and 2016 for pest control advisers, UCCE farm advisors, commodity group representatives and farmers who grow alfalfa, almonds, citrus and cotton.
“There is a new generation of professionals coming into the field,” Goodell said. “UC's IPM Program is well-prepared to equip them with decision-making tools that include a wide variety of insect management options.”
The full report can be found on the CDPR website: http://cdpr.ca.gov/docs/pestmgt/crit_uses.htm
An initiative to manage endemic and invasive pests and diseases is part of the UC Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources Strategic Vision 2025.