Geoff Menzies
Project Manager, WSU Cooperative Extension, Whatcom County
Washington State University Cooperative Extension, Whatcom County received an EPA Clean Water Act, Section 319 grant in the spring of 1995 to assist the agricultural community in the adoption of an Integrated Pest Management (IPM) approach to solving pest problems in the Nooksack watershed. This annually funded 3 year project targeted raspberry and apple growers. The major goals of the project were to increase IPM awareness in the agricultural community and to adopt crop specific IPM practices that will stay with the agricultural industry. Part of the rationale for funding this project was the discovery of pesticide contamination of groundwater underlying parts of northern Whatcom County and lower mainland British Columbia. IPM has been recognized as a practical strategy to help protect groundwater from further contamination through improved pesticide use and expansion of alternative cultural, biological and/or biorational methods of control.
The initial activity was to bring together a broad based advisory committee that would shape and take ownership in this project. The committee has had a strong grower representation, accounting for 8 of 25 positions. There were 5 raspberry growers, 2 apple growers and 1 seed potato grower. The remainder of the committee consisted of 6 agency representatives, 5 community leaders, 4 research and extension personnel and 2 farm supply representatives. The committee played a major role in three areas of activity. These were: determining appropriate education and methods of delivering the education, research needs assessment, and development of a method to evaluate the success of the project.
The committee supported a hands-on approach to IPM education. The key components of this education have been monthly breakfast meetings held during the season, a monthly seasonal newsletter focusing on pest activity and management strategies, personal field consultations with selected growers (mentoring project), IPM presentations at winter workshops, and finally crop-specific IPM manuals.
Research related activities have included assisting growers with conducting on-farm research project design and evaluation, and improved identification and communication of research needs to commodity commissions and university personnel.
Two methods were chosen to help evaluate the success of the project. Growers were asked to fill out a pest management survey at the beginning and towards the end of the project. This survey measured their understanding of IPM, decision-making methods, and general pesticide use. In addition, the Bennet Heirarchy system was used to document growers involvement in the project, their reactions to it, and ultimately how it influenced their practices.
We have had very positive reactions from growers in support of the summer breakfast meetings, the seasonal newsletter, and most recently the IPM manual for raspberries which is titled: "Integrated Pest Management for Raspberries, A Guide for Sampling and Decision-Making for Key Raspberry Pests in Northwest Washington". The format of this guide is very useful for growers because sampling procedures and decision-making guidelines are organized chronologically based on crop stage and pest development. This manual has been distributed to over sixty people in the region. Our primary focus is to distribute it to growers, but it has also been well received by farm supply companies, university research and extension agents, as well as organic berry farms. The manual is available in both a 3-ring binder format and as a CD-ROM for computer use.
The most hands-on form of IPM education was the IPM mentoring portion of the project. During the 1997 season, we worked closely with 3 raspberry farmers, routinely scouting their fields for insect and disease pests using sampling techniques described in the manual. These cooperators have and will probably continue to act as mentors, assisting other growers who are interested in taking a more active role in pest scouting. During the project, one grower gave a presentation (mentoring) to over 100 growers attending the Western Washington Small Fruit Workshop describing his scouting experience. Another contributed by writing about their pest scouting experience in the seasonal newsletter.
Monthly held, summer breakfast meetings, referred to as "The IPM Forum", became a very useful way to bring growers together in an informal setting to discuss pest activity and management strategies. These meetings were organized and conducted by the project manager but they provided lots of time for discussion between growers and fieldmen. Attendance was weak at the beginning of the project but improved in the second and third years. Meetings were held from 6:30 to 8:30 in the morning.
Two on-farm research projects were carried out with several raspberry growers during the 1996 and 1997 seasons. Laboratory-reared predatory mites (Amblyseius fallacis) were released in paired plots at various rates for two years. Growers participated in the releases and were exposed to field collection and mite brushing techniques through their direct involvement and by attending field days and winter workshops. Although this augmentative biological control tactic did not improve spider mite control when compared to non-release sites, this effort was useful in many other ways. Cooperating growers are now
able to identify naturally occurring predatory mites in their fields and realize that they have the potential to suppress spider mites below a treatment level. This work also supported their previous observations that bifenthrin (Brigade) when used as a pre-harvest cleanup spray does not necessarily disrupt biological control of spider mites by predatory mites. It appears that naturally occurring A. fallacis have some degree of tolerance to this pesticide.
In a second on-farm research project, 2 farms experimented with delayed timing and reduced rates of liquid lime sulfur (Sulforix) to evaluate impacts on spur blight and yellow rust disease development when compared to the standard timing and rate. This project compared 4 treatments, each replicated 3 times at each site. Growers applied the materials and were intimately involved in evaluating the plots for phytotoxicity and disease incidence on foliage and primocanes. It was a very successful project. Delaying Sulforix appears to improve yellow rust control and possibly spur blight as well. As a result, many growers have changed their practices in this regard. Growers who cooperated in this project have a true appreciation for the amount of work that goes into research design and evaluation.
Fall meetings with growers and the Washington State Red Raspberry Commission have helped to prioritize and more accurately identify research needs. A wonderful spinoff of this project is the development of the WSU Vancouver satellite research facility located on a commercial raspberry farm in Lynden, Washington. This facility has operated seasonally (April through September) for the past 3 years, 1996 – 1998. It has provided a unique cooperative relationship between growers, field advisers, extension agents, and researchers. This effort has spawned numerous insect, mite, and plant disease IPM projects as well as horticultural projects. Entomological projects are focusing on the development of crop and pest phenology models, comparison of traditional and IPM approaches to pest management, basic biology of numerous species of root weevils (egg laying and adult emergence studies), spider mite dynamics, and conventional pesticide trials. Plant pathology projects include cultural tactics to reduce yellow rust and fungicide timing trials combined with spore trapping to better understand and fine tune spur blight control. These ongoing research efforts are essential to the advancement and further implementation of IPM in raspberries.
Approximately 20 of a total of 80 growers completed the surveys. These respondents represented almost 4,000 acres of planted raspberries and a combined 330 years of raspberry farming experience. Some of the findings of the survey are listed below:
Utilizing the Bennet Heirarchy, the second evaluation tool, the following observations can be made about the successes and challenges of the project.
In spite of mailing newsletters to 80 raspberry growers, it was only a small, yet regular core group of growers and field advisers who attended breakfast meetings and who also became actively involved in on-farm research projects. This appears to be the nature of the industry in northern Whatcom County and likely in other areas as well. However, this core group continually maintained its involvement in all aspects of the project for its duration and has played a critical role in broadening the industry’s understanding and acceptance of IPM.
Those involved in the breakfast meetings and on-farm research efforts regularly expressed their appreciation for the project. Numerous growers and fieldmen purchased scouting tools such as beating trays and hand lenses. This is evidence of real change in their practices. Some fieldmen were very supportive of the project because it empowered growers to take more responsibility in pest scouting and decision making regarding the need for and timing of pesticide applications. This helped to shift some of the burden and risk of decision making from the fieldman to the grower.
Growers who cooperated in the mentoring program have the most initimate knowledge of sampling and record keeping methods. The recent distribution of the IPM Manual will support further scouting they do on their own farms and will help them assist or mentor other farmers in the future. As a result of this project, many growers who used to equate IPM with organic farming , now recognize IPM as the balanced approach to pest management that it is. One of the mentors after completing a season of scouting now refers to IPM simply as "Smart Farming".
The major end result of this project is that raspberry growers in Whatcom County have a better understanding of IPM. They realize that it represents a knowledge-based, economic and environmentally balanced approach to pest management decision-making, which can be a practical fit with their farming operation. However, practicing IPM requires a change in the way most growers make decisions and in their activities during the day. More growers are now interested in having specific knowledge about pest and beneficial activity in their fields and are more willing to play an active role in attaining the information and using it. The IPM Manual, which has been very well received so far, will be instrumental in supporting their efforts. It is well understood within the agricultural community that IPM development and implementation is a long term and dynamic process. The Nooksack IPM Project has been instrumental in beginning this process for raspberry growers in Whatcom County. It is critical that research efforts such as those underway at the WSU Vancouver satellite research station in Lynden continue in order to build on the momentum of this project.