Early Registration Deadline Extended for IPM Symposium until Friday!

The early registration rate for the 8th International IPM Symposium has been extended three days until Friday February 27, 2015. Don't miss this chance to join the more than 450 colleagues registered to date!  Early rates are $350 Regular and $175 student for all three days, or $185 for one day prices.  The regular and student registration fee includes admission to symposium sessions, Tuesday awards luncheon, two poster session receptions (with heavy hors d'oeuvres), three continental breakfasts (with fruit), and refreshment breaks. One-day registration includes symposium materials and catering functions for the day you are attending. The Salt Lake Plaza Hotel still had rooms available at the group rate at press time. After February 27th, registration increases to $400 Regular/$225 Student/$210 One-day. To register, visit
http://ipmcenters.org/ipmsymposium15/registration.html. 

President's 2016 Budget Proposes New Consolidated Food Safety Agency, Boosts Ag Research Funding

On February 2, President Obama released his budget proposal for fiscal year (FY) 2016, including a plan to consolidate food safety oversight into one agency and a boost to agricultural research spending. Obama's plan to consolidate food safety responsibilities places one food safety agency within the Department of Health and Human Services. The USDA and FDA currently share the main burden of food safety oversight along with several other organizations that perform smaller roles including the EPA, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, and Commerce Department. You can read the text of the proposal here. Concerns include the potential for more oversight, increasing the burden on producers. In the current political climate, it is unlikely that Congress will enact this proposal.

Diane Rehm Show Airs Program on IPM Solutions to Pesticide Resistance

On February 3, the Diane Rehm Show on National Public Radio (NPR) addressed the issue of growing pesticide resistance and options to combat it. Guests in this installment in the show's Environmental Outlook series included Aaron Hobbs, president of Responsible Industry for a Sound Environment (RISE); Les Glasgow, herbicide technical product lead for Syngenta; Erik Olson, director of health programs for the Natural Resource Defense Council; and Andy Dyer, professor of biology at the University of South Carolina and author of "Chasing the Red Queen: The Evolutionary Race Between Agricultural Pests and Poisons."

The panel as a whole supported the need for integrated and sustainable approaches to reining in the rapid development of pesticide and herbicide resistance. Dyer noted that pesticides are important tools, but that they must be used in a targeted, precise manner to maximize effectiveness. Glasgow agreed that a diversity of tactics in pest control is the key to sustainable effectiveness of each tactic. Hobbs drove the point home that IPM is the appropriate approach to tackling pest problems, describing the process as "looking at all the tools in your toolbox . . . to bring to solving the problem at hand. Sometimes that's going to be a pesticide; sometimes it's going to be another solution." Both Glasgow and Hobbs highlighted the importance of education and training about effective use of pest control products. To listen to the recording, visit the Diane Rehm Show Website.  

Study Finds Cover Crops Improve Soil Health and Inhibit Pathogens

Scientists at Cornell University report that cover crops not only increase yield by returning essential nutrients to the soil, but also limit the impact of soil-borne diseases and can help control weeds. These results were reported from a long-term cover crop field with plots at Cornell plus sites in Pennsylvania and Connecticut with known root disease pressures.

Funded by the Northeastern IPM Center, George Abawi and his team of scientists recorded the populations of root-disease pathogens Fusarium solani f. sp. phaseoli, Pythium ultimum, Thielaviopsis basicola, and Rhizoctonia solani in plots with eight different cover crop varieties. Snap beans grown in rotation with wheat, sudex, oat, and radish cover crops experienced the lowest increases in root rot while buckwheat or clover and the fallow control experienced the highest levels of root rot. Weed pressure was least in the rye/vetch, wheat, and rapeseed plots, and most severe in the fallow/check, buckwheat and sudex plots. Read more about this study here. 

Join us at the IPM Symposium!

IPM Voice will have a poster on display at the IPM Symposium Salt Lake City. Poster authors will be present from 5:30-7:00 pm on Tuesday March 24th and Wednesday March 25th. Visit us to pick up membership cards to distribute to individuals in your networks who may be interested in supporting our work. The volunteer board of IPM Voice will also be holding a meeting during the Symposium from 7:00-8:15 am on Thursday March 26th.

If you haven't already done so, renew your IPM Voice membership for 2015 (or become a new member) and check out our new donation options by visiting https://ipmvoice.org/join.htm. 

Upcoming IPM-Related Meetings and Conferences

February 25-26, 2015.  Organic Agriculture Research Symposium. La Crosse, WI

February 26-28, 2015.  MOSES Organic Farming Conference. La Crosse, WI

March 1-4, 2015.  16th Wildlife Damage Management Conference. Gatlinburg, TN

March 23-26, 2015.  Eighth International IPM Symposium. Salt Lake City, UT

April 19-21, 2015. PestWorld East. Dubai, United Arab Emirates

May 13-16, 2015. The 20th Penn State Plant Biology Symposium. University Park, PA

August 9-13, 2015. International Congress on Invertebrate Pathology and Microbial Control and the 48th Annual meeting of the Society for Invertebrate Pathology. Vancouver, Canada 

August 24-27, 2015.  The XVII International Plant Protection Congress. Berlin, Germany

October 19-22, 2015. ESBCP 2-15, the Fourth Regional Conference of Applied Biological Control of Pests. Cairo, Egypt.

November 15-18, 2015. Entomology 2015, Synergy in Science: Partnering for Solutions. Minneapolis, MN