ARKANSAS EXTENSION IMPLEMENTATION PROGRAM

<b>Project Methods</b><br> IPM Implementation in Agronomic Crops and/or Specialty CropsAgronomic Crops IPM – We will have IPM programs in all row crops. Allproposed activities will occur every year of the three-year project. These activities complement the current crop protection research efforts, and complement existing Extension programs, such as county IPM meetings, weekly conference calls and site visits.1) County agents will be trained on IPM at in-service trainings conducted in the classroom,online and the field. Knowledge gained will be assessed through pre- and post-surveys.2) Online training modules on IPM will be updated to reflect current IPM recommendations.3) Demonstrate the value of IPM-based pesticide applications compared to preventative applications through on-farm trials.4) Demonstrate the incorporation of cultural practices to manage resistant weeds.5) Monitor Southwestern corn borer populations in corn to coordinate advisories. Trap catches will be reported in collaboration with the SIPMC Ag Pest Monitor program.6) Education on economic thresholds and insecticide termination for rice stink bug.7) Education on peanut diseases and insect pests to aid in timely and appropriate responses.8) Monitor pesticide resistance in tobacco thrips in cotton and develop recommendations.9) Monitor rice billbug in row rice production and develop educational materials.10) Support IPM funding for mini-grants for crop-producing counties.Specialty Crop IPM – The goal of the proposed work is to increase the number of sustainable IPM tactics in the state of Arkansas to support growers of specialty crops by developing a robust program that focuses on a systems approach to managing insects while maintaining soil and pollinator health. This will include developing field-testing techniques in Arkansas to increase adoption by growers. The research and extension efforts in the Arkansas specialty crop IPM program will be concentrated in 5 areas:1) Bolstering Insect Trapping Network for Fruit Pests2) Expanding knowledge of low risk and organic insecticides3) Exploring Alternatives to chlorpyrifos in fruits4) Impact of long-term cover crop rotations and their impact on pest management and pollinator health5) Education and outreachIPM Implementation in Animal AgricultureCattle Pest IPM -Emphasis is on Tick and Horn Fly Surveillance and Management Education. Weplan to compare fly management methods that incorporate surveillance, monitoring, insecticide class rotation and economic thresholds. Surveillance and sampling cattle for ALHT and important endemic ticks is a new and essential priority. Sampling cattle from a broader geographical area is needed to determine how widespreadthis tick is in Arkansas. Efforts to expand surveillance for ALHT and Theileria orientalis ikeda and provideproducer awareness of this new livestock pest are needed to expand producer awareness. Specific activities include:1. Demonstrations of surveillance and population estimation of horn flies on cattle. These demonstrations will show producers the importance of economic threshold in effective horn flymanagement and provide an alert to control failures.2. Demonstrations to compare traditional horn fly management insecticides to alternate methods (walk-through traps and alternative insecticides (fatty acids, etc.)).3. Demonstrate and conduct more widespread tick surveillance on Arkansas cattle. This will further ourknowledge of range expansion of the ALHT and increase producer awareness of this new invasivetick.4. Using established PCR methods, we will screen ALHT collected during surveillance for the presence of the protozoan pathogen, Theileria orientalis ikeda. This will increase producer knowledge of theimportance of this pathogen and its associated tick.Forage Pest Management -Due to the arrival and range expansion of BSM and recent damaging chinch bug populations, we willincrease awareness with demonstrations to agents in counties with substantial bermudagrass hay production. Specialists and county agents will educate producers on symptom recognition and surveillance methods forBSM (yellow sticky cards and sweep netting) and chinch bugs (flotation) as well as demonstrate controlmethods. Specific activities include:1. Bermudagrass stem maggot: In Years 1 -3, participating county faculty will demonstrate how to identify an infested field, how to assess the infestation, demonstrate control methods and assessdamage in treated verses non-treated forage.2. Chinch bugs: Recognition of chinch bug damage and chinch bug surveillance will be demonstratedin bermudagrass fields with a history of poultry litter application. Control demonstrations will beconducted in fields showing economic damage.3. Armyworm and Fall Armyworm surveillance: Compare counts of caterpillars per square foot tocaterpillars per sweep from sweep netting. A protocol for these comparisons has been used over thelast two years.4. Armyworm and Fall management in pastures: Evaluate and demonstrate the value of alternativeinsecticide formulations (e.g., insect growth regulators, anthranilic diamides and IGR/pyrethroidtank mixes) with longer residual activity, compared to treatments with pyrethroids alone. Providescouting alerts to producers through news releases, email and social media.5. Imported fire ants: Assist producers in determining the amount of economic damage resulting fromimported fire ant infestations. Demonstrate alternative fire ant bait application in key areasincluding skip-swatch applications.Poultry Pest Management: Darkling beetle and house fly resistance has become a recurring issue in and around poultry housing facilities in the U.S. In 2015-2016,Arkansas poultry integrators identified lesser mealworm and house fly control failures as a recurring issuein northwest Arkansas and eastern Oklahoma. Both lesser mealworms and house flies are potential mechanical vectors of poultry pathogens, neighborhood nuisance pests and/or potential public healththreats. The lesser mealworm burrowing in insulation causes structural damage such assignificant reduction in the R-value resulting in increased climate control costs. Specific activities include:1. Year 1 – Assist poultry integrators to determine incidence of lesser mealworm and house fly controlfailure, identify farms to implement demonstrations, initiate IPM control technologies on integratoridentified farms.2. Year 1-3 – Use laboratory bioassays to evaluate products and potential darkling beetle insecticideresistance.3. Years 2-3 – Develop educational materials and assist poultry integrator field personnel andcontracted pest control operators in appropriate IPM control strategies (insecticide classrotation, alternative control methods and surveillance methods).IPM for Pollinator HealthIssues currently facing honey bees and beekeeping include mite parasites, microbial pathogens,habitatdegradation, and pesticide exposure. Information on colony management using IPM tactics, is essential tomaintaining a good healthy honey bee population in today's environment.Activities Proposed:1) Conduct IPM training for Pollinator Health with county extension agents and clientele;2) Produce IPM information in the form of booklets and a pocket guide forPollinator Health IPMto be distributed at workshops and county meetings.Workshops are an effective method to increase knowledge of county-level extension agents and staff, tohelp answer questions of clientele, and to be able to work with local beekeepers and beekeepingassociations to teach and conduct workshops for the public. Workshops will be conducted across the state.Apiary inspectors from the AR State Plant Board will also be involved.IPM Support for Diagnostic FacilitiesMisuse of pesticides can result from misidentification. Personnel areneeded to support and make the diagnoses needed to ensure diagnostic lab viability. Activities Proposed: Provide partial support for technician to increase lab diagnostics