PENNSYLVANIA EXTENSION INTEGRATED PEST MANAGEMENT FOR AGRICULTURE AND COMMUNITIES

This project will provide statewide integrated pest management programming in both agricultural and urban environments.The Pennsylvania Integrated Pest Management Program (PAIPM) is a collaboration among Penn State University (PSU) and several agencies/entities throughout the state, most significantly the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture (PDA), but also included various city agencies, national programs and non-governmental organizations. These extensive collaborations have allowed PAIPM to evolve into an effective extension program bringing the IPM message to many different communities.Activities are supported by a core staff consisting of a coordinator, associate coordinator, communications specialist, web specialist and school IPM specialist based on campus. Other staff are housed at PDA and a special urban/consumer IPM office in Philadelphia.We propose to continue our role in overall program coordination/administration working with our collaborators and maintaining our extensive interactions with stakeholders. We will also concentrate our efforts in several Primary and Secondary Coordination emphasis areas including:1. Agronomic Crops- A continuation and expansion of efforts that support the enhancement of IPM programming as part of Penn State's Crop Management Extension Group (CMEG) consortium2. Specialty Crops- Several projects are proposed to serve vegetable, Christmas tree and tree fruit industries.3. IPM in Housing- PAIPM's work with underserved audiences in inner cities is largely unaddressed in the U.S.4. Public Health IPM- Develop extension programming concerning pests that affect public health. These include mosquitoes, bed bugs and others.5. IPM Partnerships in Wide-Area Pest Monitoring for Agronomic and Vegetable Crops- Penn State is a leader in developing Information Technologies for IPM including PAPIPE, a state-level version of ipmPIPE.