Northeast Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (NE-SARE) Professional Development Program (PDP) Grant
Duration: September 2015-April 2018
Lack of knowledge regarding Resistance Management (RM) and pesticide Modes of Action (MoA) was identified by providers as a hindrance to their ability to educate growers on these topics. Most (>80%) extension specialists surveyed have never attended formal classes on RM and MoA during their academic or professional careers. The project will address this need by conducting 4 webinars, providing Moodle resources, and producing a PowerPoint teaching module and accompanying video. The webinars will provide interactive, educational forums that focus on the basic principles of RM and MoA while also highlighting areas of special concern for Northeastern agriculture. Augmenting the training with the Moodle platform will allow attendees to confirm their common ground of understanding and knowledge, from which they can then extend to the grower community. To ensure that a unified approach to RM is taught across the region, participants will be provided with a core module that will serve as the “seed” by which they can then develop a presentation that is tailored to the particular needs of any specific commodity group.
Performance Targets:
After participating in on-line webinar and Moodle sessions on the principles and practices of RM within an IPM context, Extension and agricultural industry personnel from Northeastern states will develop crop-specific training modules and materials to transfer this knowledge to Northeast specialty crop growers.
Trainees will develop and produce cohesive publications for outreach to local and regional constituents.
The effectiveness and delivery of a high-quality, cohesive RM message and its implementation on-farm will be monitored and documented through a rigorous verification process.
