2006
Annual Report
UC Statewide IPM Program
HIGHLIGHTS |
Partnerships are essential in implementing IPM
UC Cooperative Extension and UC IPM are well known for their development
of integrated pest management knowledge and approaches. While results are
often implemented through demonstration and publications, reaching a receptive
audience to adopt system-level integration is sometimes difficult.
“Forming
partnerships with community-based organizations can provide access to motivated
clientele,” says UC IPM Advisor Pete Goodell. “For example,
the Community Alliance with Family Farmers (CAFF) has developed a network
within a community that is looking for solutions to specific problems.
The farmers and pest control advisors need to know where to get answers.”
UC
IPM has partnered with CAFF’s Sustainable Cotton Project (SCP)
to provide science-based problem solving to specific settings. UC IPM’s
support through the involvement of Goodell has offered alternatives to
pest management situations.
SCP has developed production criteria called
BASIC (Biological Agricultural Systems in Cotton) that promote biologically
intensive approaches to cotton pest management. The foundation of the approach
has been based on UC IPM’s
Integrated Pest Management for Cotton, cotton pest management guidelines,
and the year-round IPM program for cotton. BASIC
growers sign up some of their cotton fields and agree to produce cotton
in a more biologically reliant manner, which includes the prohibition of
certain organophosphate and carbamate insecticides.
UC IPM supports alternative
approaches to the use of these products by:
- Promoting early and frequent scouting.
- Using established action thresholds.
- Understanding the role of natural enemies and the importance of conserving
them.
- Aiding in the selection of effective reduced-risk and selective alternate
insecticides.
- Preserving alfalfa habitat through strip border harvest.
- Serving on the Technical Advisory Committee and being available for
consultations with the community.
- Supporting an environment of participatory
interaction among growers, PCAs, and university specialists.
“The importance of local involvement in defining the problems and
seeking locally relevant solutions cannot be underestimated,” says
Goodell. “When
people are actively engaged in participatory demonstrations, little coaxing
by IPM advisors is required. IPM advisors become more like coaches, encouraging
incremental changes in the existing production and IPM system."
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