2017 Partnership Grants to Promote School IPM, Tree Fruit Management; Cut Down Weeds
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The Northeastern IPM Center partners with stakeholders for integrated pest management. |
In 2017, the Northeastern IPM Center awarded more than $250,000 for research and outreach through its IPM Partnership Grants, a competitive funding program.
The Northeastern IPM Center began funding projects through the IPM Partnership Grants Program in 2004. Applications have come from public and private institutions or organizations, businesses, commodity groups, and private individuals.
This year, the projects include efforts to develop control tactics for a potential outbreak of browntail moth, to engage with nurses to promote IPM in schools, and to guide sustainable tree fruit management. Through the 2017 IPM Partnership Grants, the Center has funded working groups, studies on issues, and communications projects. The projects advance the Center’s Signature Programs in IPM and Organic Systems, Climate Change and Pests, Next Generation Education, Rural and Urban IPM, and Advanced Production Systems.
“This year’s awards reflect the diverse issues and opportunities related to pest management in our region,” said Steve Young, director of the Northeastern IPM Center. “We wish we could have funded more projects, as this year was a competitive one with a number of innovative proposals. These awards show the various ways pests are implicated in human health, the environment, and economics, and these project directors are taking practical steps to advance IPM solutions.”
The total amount awarded is $253,378.
The Projects
Title, Amount, Project Directors – Institution
- Engaging School Nurses as Key Change Agents to Promote IPM Adoption in Northeast Schools, $19,985, Kathy Murray – Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation, and Forestry
- A New England Tree Fruit Management Guide for the Next Generation, $19,991, Daniel Cooley, Jon Clements – University of Massachusetts Amherst
- Northeast Invasive Hardy Kiwi (Actinidia arguta) Working Group, $20,000, Jane Winn – Berkshire Environmental Action Team (BEAT)
- Establishing a Northeastern IPM Weeds Working Group, $20,000, Antonio DiTommaso – Cornell University
- Developing Aesthetic Injury Level for German Cockroach IPM, $50,000, Changlu Wang, Amanda Eiden – Rutgers University
- Integrating Cover Crops for Weed Management in Plasticulture Systems, $49,875, Kurt Vollmer, Mark VanGessel – University of Delaware
- Exploitation of Ecological Traps for the Control of a Mosquito Disease Vector, $48,527, Allison Gardner, Joseph Staples – University of Maine
- Developing IPM Tactics for Browntail Moth Outbreak, $25,000, Eleanor Groden – University of Maine
The Northeastern IPM Center covers twelve states from Maine to West Virginia and the District of Columbia. It is one of four regional IPM centers in the nation. This year, the other regional centers awarded grants to conserve bees, mitigate pest resistance in corn and soybeans, provide IPM training in schools, and to study bed bugs in multifamily housing, as well as soybean looper, pecan bacterial scorch, and tawny crazy ant. Collectively the four centers will award just over a million dollars.
Read more about projects funded in other regions: