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Title: GROWER PERSPECTIVES ON AREAWIDE WHEAT INTEGRATED PEST MANAGEMENT IN THE SOUTHERN U.S. GREAT PLAINS

Author
item KEENAN, SEAN - OKLAHOMA STATE UNIV
item GILES, KRISTOPHER - OKLAHOMA STATE UNIV
item Elliott, Norman - Norm
item ROYER, TOM - OKLAHOMA STATE UNIV
item Porter, David
item BURGENER, PAUL - UNIV OF NEBRASKA
item CHRISTIAN, DAVID - UNIV OF NEBRASKA

Submitted to: Ecologically Based Integrated Pest Management in Dryland Cropping Systems
Publication Type: Book / Chapter
Publication Acceptance Date: 6/13/2005
Publication Date: 4/2/2007
Citation: Keenan, S.P., Giles, K.L., Elliott, N.C., Royer, T.A., Porter, D.R., Burgener, P.A., Christian, D.A. 2007. Grower perspectives on areawide wheat integrated pest management in the Southern U.S. Great Plains. In: Koul, O., Cuperus, G.W., editors. Ecologically Based Integrated Pest Management. CAB International Publishing, Inc., London. p. 289-314.

Interpretive Summary: The areawide program for wheat is a program funded by the USDA-ARS Areawide Pest Management Program. The program brings together collaboration between state and federal researchers and extension specialists, growers, and private industry with the goal of demonstrating and refining testing environmentally friendly pest control technologies as part of and integrated pest management (IPM) strategy. The program will be beneficial to participating wheat growers by improving their knowledge of insect pests, natural enemies, and benefits of improved methods for field scouting for pests. The areawide program will also demonstrate insect management benefits of crop rotations and pest resistant wheat cultivars. Through focus groups, we observed that many growers acknowledged pest management benefits of crop rotation, but were mainly attuned to weed management benefits. So increasing grower awareness of insect management advantages is an important educational goal for the program. But we also observed that adoption of crop rotation involves a broad range of decisions. From the grower's perspective, crop rotation involves a reallocation of assets to various possible farm enterprises. The decision will be influenced by grower's assessments of financial risk and related factors like Federal farm program support, weather trends, markets for various commodities, and leasing arrangements for rented farmland. It is uncertain how the various factors influencing crop rotation adoption will play out in the future. Nonetheless, some growers associated with the areawide wheat project have seen ongoing benefits of crop rotation in spite of many sources of volatility in winter wheat production. A significant outcome of the areawide wheat IPM program will be to help growers see how their peers have coped with successful implementation of diversified winter wheat production in the central US Great Plains.

Technical Abstract: The areawide program for wheat is a program funded by the USDA-ARS Areawide Pest Management Program. The program brings together collaboration between state and federal researchers and extension specialists, growers, and private industry with the goal of demonstrating and refining testing environmentally friendly pest control technologies as part of and integrated pest management (IPM) strategy. The program will be beneficial to participating wheat growers by improving their knowledge of insect pests, natural enemies, and benefits of improved methods for field scouting for pests. The areawide program will also demonstrate insect management benefits of crop rotations and pest resistant wheat cultivars. Through focus groups, we observed that many growers acknowledged pest management benefits of crop rotation, but were mainly attuned to weed management benefits. So increasing grower awareness of insect management advantages is an important educational goal for the program. But we also observed that adoption of crop rotation involves a broad range of decisions. From the grower's perspective, crop rotation involves a reallocation of assets to various possible farm enterprises. The decision will be influenced by grower's assessments of financial risk and related factors like Federal farm program support, weather trends, markets for various commodities, and leasing arrangements for rented farmland. It is uncertain how the various factors influencing crop rotation adoption will play out in the future. Nonetheless, some growers associated with the areawide wheat project have seen ongoing benefits of crop rotation in spite of many sources of volatility in winter wheat production. A significant outcome of the areawide wheat IPM program will be to help growers see how their peers have coped with successful implementation of diversified winter wheat production in the central US Great Plains.