IR-4 Month in Review: October 2023

November 1, 2023

Pest Management Solutions for Specialty Crops and Specialty Uses

The following is a recap of news and updates announced by The IR-4 Project during the month of October.

LATEST NEWS

BIG PROGRESS IN LITTLE ROCK

Thank you, EHC stakeholders and sponsors, for a successful Priority Setting Workshop in Little Rock, Arkansas earlier this month. Visit the EHC event webpage to view the projects that have been prioritized for the 2024-25 research cycle. Your collaborative efforts help the EHC program continue to blossom!

See the Workshop Outcomes

NRPM + PMC MEETING RECAP

Last week in Raleigh, colleagues gathered for our annual National Research Planning Meeting (NRPM) and quarterly Project Management Committee (PMC) meeting.

We extend heartfelt thanks to our Regional Field Coordinators, Assistant Regional Field Coordinators, Field Research Directors, and their talented teams for helping solidify next year's research plan. We look forward to seeing it come to fruition, and working together towards more solutions for specialty crop growers.

We also express our gratitude to the Project Management Committee for their leadership as advisors, helping our team move forward in alignment with IR-4's mission and vision.

The tentative schedule of 2024 Food Crop field trials can now be viewed on the Food Crops Database Search Options page (under the 'Current Year' header towards the bottom of the page).

View Tentative/Scheduled Trials

THANK YOU, 2023 EVENT SPONSORS!

The support of our sponsors makes our impactful event calendar possible. Thank you for championing IR-4’s research!

Interested in becoming a sponsor for IR-4’s 2024 events? We welcome sponsors anytime. Reach out to ir-4_project@ncsu.edu for more information.

RESEARCH UPDATES

FOOD CROP TOLERANCE SUCCESSES

The following tolerance success was added to our website in October (find these under Food Crop Successes & Stories):

Flonicamid (Federal Register date: September 20, 2023)
Spinetoram (Federal Register date: September 5, 2023)

ENVIRONMENTAL HORTICULTURE UPDATES

Two new crop vignettes were posted to the Environmental Horticulture Program page during the month of October:

Crop Vignette: Coneflower

Echinacea is a genus of about 10 perennial species, commonly known as coneflowers, in the Asteraceae family. They are native to eastern and central North America where they naturally grow in open woodlands and prairies. The genus name comes from the Greek ekhinos, meaning hedgehog, likely referring to the spiny central disk of the flower.

Crop Vignette: Bleeding Heart

Bleeding Heart (Dicentra sp.) is a genus in the Papaveraceae family with over 20 species native to North America and eastern Asia. The name Dicentra comes from the Greek words dis and kéntron meaning "twice" and "spur," referring to the two spurred outer petals that give the flowers their distinctive shape.

Wishing you all a Happy Halloween (week)!

This impressive pumpkin (one of our favorite specialty crops) was

grown and designed by Roger Batts.

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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.