Back to News Releases

DPR Reaching Out to Growers - Extending Knowledge of IPM for Orchard Crops

Contact: Charlotte Fadipe
916-445-3974 | Charlotte.Fadipe@cdpr.ca.gov
February 12, 2014 (14-3)
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

The California Department of Pesticide Regulation (DPR) has launched an online survey to encourage California growers to help identify better ways to manage pests through integrated pest management (IPM). IPM is a strategy that focuses on long-term prevention of pests or their damage through a combination of techniques such as pest monitoring, biological control, habitat manipulation, modification of cultural practices, and use of resistant varieties.

DPR’s scientists teamed up with principal investigator Marshall Johnson and other agricultural experts from the University of California (UC) Riverside; the Kearney Agricultural Research and Extension Center (UC Agriculture and Natural Resources), and UC Cooperative Extension to help create this exciting project.

Currently online surveys are available covering two growing seasons (2012 and 2013), for California growers of:

  • Peaches and nectarines
  • Walnuts
  • Cherries
  • Almonds

The surveys, which can also be found at the Extending Orchard IPM Knowledge in California Website, allow growers to anonymously record their own views on how well various pest management practices work, and then compare their answers to the results submitted by other growers. By participating, growers contribute their own real-time experiences with pest management, which can complement laboratory and field research data to develop more realistic pest management tools and analyses. The site also contains a library of videotaped interviews with renowned experts, growers, academics, and others talking about the value of IPM in agriculture.

This project was supported by a California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) Specialty Crop Block Grant.