March 28, 2024

Pest Management Solutions for Specialty Crops and Specialty Uses

The following is a recap of news and updates released by

The IR-4 Project during the month of March.

LATEST NEWS

In anticipation of the 2024 Food Use Workshop, IR-4 has set key deadlines to help our stakeholders prepare for this collaborative priority-setting event. The most notable date is a new, earlier deadline for the submission of Project Clearance Requests (PCRs). While this deadline has typically been in mid-August, this year's PCR deadline is July 31.

The goal of the earlier deadline is to give industry and regulatory stakeholders (and IR-4 staff) a bit more time for the increasingly complex PCR review process that occurs ahead of the Workshop.

Have a specialty food crop pest problem in mind that you'd like considered at the workshop? Contact your Regional Field Coordinator to get involved in regional priority setting meetings, or visit the Submit a Request page* to get started on a project clearance request (PCR).

*This page also features a video on how to complete a PCR!

Live from the Lab: A Collegial Caffeine Competition in Coffee

What’s been brewing in the Western Region Lab? A robust blend of rivalry and scientific inquiry! Read our latest story from Western Region Director 

Matt Hengel to learn about the lab’s (unresolved) quest to see which coffee bean buzzes better—Hawai’ian or Puerto Rican.

UPCOMING EVENTS

2024 Research Symposium: Food Crops

The annual IR-4 Project Research Symposium: Food Crops will be held on Tuesday, April 9, 2024, from 1-4 pm ET. During this virtual event (via Zoom), IR-4 biologists will share research results from Integrated Solutions and Product Performance trials on food crops. Results from these trials are used to identify potential pest management solutions for specialty crops and to support product registrations.

REGISTRATION IS NOW OPEN via the event web page, where you can also now find a tentative agenda. Additional details will be shared as the event date approaches. We hope you’ll join us on April 9!

2024 Industry Technology Session

The annual IR-4 Project Industry Technology Session will be held virtually (via Zoom) on Thursday, July 18, 2024, from approximately 11:30 am to 4:30 pm ET (time subject to change). This annual event allows companies to present updates on products already in IR-4 research, as well as new technologies designed to meet the pest management needs of specialty crop producers. Visit the event web page to learn more.

2024 Food Use Workshop

The IR-4 Project's annual Food Use Workshop will take place September 10-12, 2024 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Research priorities for residue, product performance, and integrated solutions studies for 2025 will be identified during this workshop. A virtual option will be available for participants unable to attend in person.

The workshop will take place at the Renaissance Milwaukee West Hotel. A block of hotel rooms is available for our in-person meeting attendees from September 8- 13. Rooms must be reserved by Monday, August 12, 2024, to receive the group rate of $183/night. Visit the event web page for a room booking link.

A tentative agenda will be shared soon; we anticipate full days of programming on September 10-11, concluding with a half-day on September 12.

Stay tuned for registration information (coming soon!). For now, please bookmark the event web page, where all the event details will be added as our team finalizes them. We hope to see you in Milwaukee!

IR-4 SOUTHERN REGION EVENT: UF/IFAS Special Seminar

On April 4, our Southern Region Colleagues at the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences will host a Special Seminar featuring IR-4 Biology Team Lead and Principal Entomologist, Alice Axtell.

If you’re a Florida researcher interested in advancing pest management options for specialty crops, we encourage you to register for this event so you can learn more about IR-4’s research process and how you can get involved through UF/IFAS.

Event Details:

Thursday, April 4th from 9:00am-12:00pm (EST) in Fifield Hall, Room 1306 or via Zoom

REGISTER HERE.

With questions about registration or this event, please contact the Interim Regional Field Coordinator for IR-4's Southern Region, Kristen Searer-Jones: k.searerjones@ufl.edu.

CAREER OPPORTUNITY

The IR-4 Project Environmental Horticulture Program (EHP) Manager position will be tasked with coordinating research and pesticide (bio-based and chemical) registration activities on non-food, ornamental plant species within the IR-4 Project. This position will be based at the IR-4 Headquarters office at NC State University.

RESEARCH UPDATES

Food Crops

The following tolerance success was added to the IR-4 website during the month of March. Find other tolerance successes under Food Crop Successes & Stories.

• Triclopyr (Federal Register date: February 28, 2024)

Environmental Horticulture

The following crop safety research summary was posted to the Environmental Horticulture Program page in March:

• Fatty Acid Herbicide Efficacy

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This material is based upon work that is supported by the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, U.S. Department of Agriculture, under award numbers 2022-79111-38469 and 2021-34383-34848 with substantial cooperation and support from the State Agricultural Experiment Stations, USDA-ARS and USDA-FAS. In accordance with Federal Law and U.S. Department of Agriculture policy, this institution is prohibited from discriminating on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, age or disability.