Strategic Plan for Cranberries Is Influential

Pest management strategic plans (PMSPs) guide us toward safer, more effective approaches to pest management using information provided by growers, scientists, consumer groups, and others who are concerned about the pest control practices associated with a particular crop. In workshops designed to gather their input and expertise, these groups identify key pests of the crop, assess current practices, and set research priorities to help funding institutions direct their resources strategically toward projects that promise the greatest benefit. The resulting PMSPs help to enhance IPM practices in the industry, benefiting producers and consumers alike.

The Cranberry PMSP released in October 2002 is an excellent example of how these planning tools can help an industry address its most important pest management challenges. Created under the leadership of the Cranberry Institute of North America and NE PMC, this strategic plan has proved to be a worthwhile exercise: as participants identified the most formidable pest-related issues in the industry, scientists involved were able to clarify research needs in their disciplines. Now the priorities articulated in the PMSP will be reflected in the USDA’s funding decisions, making it more likely that projects addressing the industry’s greatest needs will receive support.

As a result of this effort, plant pathologists have been successful at getting two separate grants for fruit rot research from the USDA. Fruit rot is a particularly high priority for cranberry research because it affects the crop in all areas where it is grown. Numerous species of fruit-rotting fungi cause serious damage to crops in the Northeast each year, and the problem has become more prevalent in the Pacific Northwest and Wisconsin, too.

Both of the recently funded projects are led by a multistate team that includes Frank Caruso (MA), Peter Oudemans (NJ), Patty McManus (WI), and Pete Bristow (WA). One of the projects, funded by the Northeast Region IPM Grants Program, will focus on four individual fruit-rotting fungi, examining the inoculum sources and the timing of infection. The other grant, funded by the Pest Management Alternatives Program, supports the development of a model that will predict how severe fruit rot will be in a given season. This predictive scheme will build upon an existing method that has been used for many years in Massachusetts, updating the old approach and adapting it for use elsewhere in the country. Both projects hold promise for improving cranberry IPM in all of the crop’s primary production areas.