Regional Integrated Pest
Management (IPM) Centers
- What Do Regional IPM Centers Do?
- Who Benefits From Regional IPM Centers?
- Products and Ongoing Activities of the
Regional IPM Centers
- National Web Site for the Regional IPM
Centers
- Conclusions of the Regional IPM Centers’ Review
In September 2000, CSREES established four
Regional Integrated Pest Management (IPM)
Centers, the Northeast, North Central, Southern,
and Western, as a means of strengthening
its connection with stakeholders and research
and extension programs throughout the United
States. Although centers are regionally based,
inter-regional collaboration is an important
component of the program's success. The centers
function as a national pest management information
network designed to respond quickly to information
needs in both the public and private sectors.
Regional IPM Centers help CSREES and its
partner institutions identify, prioritize,
and coordinate national pest management research,
extension, and education programs.
What Do Regional IPM Centers Do?
- increase the effectiveness of stakeholder
investments by enhancing interdisciplinary
and multi-organizational IPM research and
outreach efforts
- provide timely and high-quality information
on IPM practices and use patterns to government
agencies and stakeholders
- organize responses to emerging regional
and national issues
- administer regional IPM grant programs
under CSREES oversight
Who Benefits From Regional IPM Centers?
Commercial Agricultural and Urban Production Systems Personnel - Each Regional
IPM Center collaborates with the National Plant Diagnostic Network (NPDN),
Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), Agricultural Research Service
(ARS), USDA Forest Service, National Plant Health Board, Master Gardeners’ Program,
and the land-grant universities (LGUs) to address new and emerging pest management
issues through regional and national educational efforts.
Consumers – Regional IPM Centers support
efforts to ensure that food production systems,
landscaping techniques, parks management,
school systems, and homeowners are employing
the best management practices for pest management.
Regulators - Regional IPM Centers promote
informed regulatory decision making and play
a key role in linking state and federal regulatory
agencies to university-based IPM expertise.
Extension and Research Personnel - Regional
IPM Centers share information on funding
opportunities with LGU extension and research
personnel and collaborate with the LGU system
to disseminate their current research results
and IPM recommendations.
Products and Ongoing Activities of the Regional IPM Centers
Crop
Profiles are descriptions of IPM and
crop production practices, including regional
differences and worker activities that
occur throughout the growing season.
Pest
Management Strategic Plans are commodity
based documents developed by stakeholder
groups to identify and prioritize future
IPM needs, strategies, and related information
for IPM specialists, regulatory agencies,
and decision makers.
Regional
and National Pest Alerts are a collaborative
development addressing new and emerging
pest issues. In cooperation with the LGUs
and other pest management educators, the
Regional IPM Centers have distributed over
1.2 million copies from the pest alert
series.
Current pest alerts include:
Regional and national training programs
have been developed by the Regional IPM Centers
in cooperation with the LGUs, NPDN, APHIS,
ARS, National Plant Health Board, Master
Gardeners’ Program, USDA Forest Service,
and state departments of agriculture. Featured
regional and national training programs include
topics such as Soybean
Rust and Sudden
Oak Death.
Regional IPM Center personnel continue to
provide leadership for the National
IPM Symposium and encourage collaboration
through sponsorship arrangements with APHIS,
ARS, the Office of Pest Management Policy
(OPMP), Sustainable Agriculture Research
and Education (SARE), IR-4, the Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA), and contributor
arrangements with numerous corporations involved
in food production and IPM implementation.
National Web Site for the Regional IPM Centers
The national
site provides information about commodities,
pests, and pest management practices in
the United States. It also offers access
to the complete Crop Profiles and Pest
Management Strategic Plans databases, an
IPM expertise database, information on
pesticide use, current pest management
research, funding opportunities, and links
to many related sites.
The national site also contains links to
sites for each of the four Regional IPM Centers.
At each of the Regional IPM Center sites,
individuals can access regional specific
databases, news, information, and announcements.
Each site has a unique blend of helpful information
which can be obtained through newsletters,
pest alerts, and training opportunities.
Conclusions of the Regional IPM Centers’ Review
The Northeastern IPM Center in February
2006 participated in a midterm review of
the Regional IPM Centers program. CSREES
released a report presenting
conclusions of this review, which is summarized
below.
Purpose and Format of the Review:
The review assessed the Regional IPM Centers’ configuration,
performance, and engagement with other programs.
All four regional centers were reviewed by
one panel under the leadership of CSREES.
The review team’s work was based on
written materials and presentations provided
by CSREES and each of the four Regional IPM
Centers. Reviewers heard presentations from
a variety of government and university organizations,
and received input from center stakeholders
via conference calls and surveys. The panel
also met individually with the leadership
of each IPM Center. The review process is
an opportunity to identify and build on successes
and to implement corrective initiatives where
necessary.
Broad Conclusions: Overall, the
review team determined that the “IPM
Centers have been successful individually
and as a network.” They found the centers
to be cooperative; increasing efficiency,
communication, and connections with stakeholders;
engaging a wide spectrum of nontraditional
partners; and reinforcing established IPM
networks in ways that facilitate IPM adoption
across the nation. The team advised CSREES
to continue funding the Regional IPM Centers
on an equal distribution basis and to consider
the centers’ success as a model for
other future CSREES programs.
Strengths Identified: The review
team determined that the centers have been
especially effective in meeting the following
goals:
- promoting interdisciplinary and multiorganizational
collaboration;
- facilitating the development of knowledge,
information, technology, communication,
and education to enhance IPM for the benefit
of regional stakeholders and the environment;
- serving as a focal point for interactive
communication;
- involving stakeholders in identifying
needs and priorities for IPM in serving
agriculture, food, and natural resource
systems;
- organizing responses to emerging regional
issues;
- managing resources to facilitate regional
IPM programs and activities, showing impressive
use of limited resources to maximize output
of projects; and
- promoting collaboration to minimize
duplication of effort among states
and regions.
Recommendations for Improvement:
The review team identified some areas for
improvement and offered the following recommendations:
- Centers need to expand their efforts
to establish positive relationships with
other federal agencies, a process that
has begun but has not reached its full
potential.
- Centers could benefit from additional
support in Washington, DC
- Centers should make strong efforts to
secure external funds to leverage the funds
received from CSREES and to help support
additional program efforts.
- Centers should develop and widely distribute
user-friendly, informative annual reports
to highlight accomplishments and successes.
Centers’ Impact on States:
Reviewers gave special consideration to the
centers’ impact on states and multi-state
collaboration, asking whether coordination
of IPM efforts across states has led to efficiencies
that help compensate for shrinking resources
at the state level. They concluded that centers
had created and continue to build a sound
foundation for multi-state collaboration
through the broad representation within their
structures, the collaborative requirements
of their grants programs, and their role
in facilitating communication between knowledgeable
stakeholders in the states and federal decision-makers.
Reviewers noted that many of the stakeholders
participating in the review process said
the IPM Centers have had a positive impact
on multi-state collaboration and communication.
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