The IPM Program at Cornell University

Introduction

The New York State IPM Program was established in 1985 through legislation that was added to the Agriculture and Markets Law, Article 11. The legislation calls for IPM efforts in four major commodity production areas: vegetables, livestock/field crops, fruit, and ornamentals. This program strengthened and broadened the existing Cornell IPM Program that was already underway in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences (CALS). Funding for the New York State IPM Program comes to Cornell through a yearly budget appropriation given to the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets. The department contracts with Cornell for the New York State IPM Program. The primary intent of the contract is to bring IPM methods, knowledge, and technology to the farms and agricultural production operations of the state.

In 1994 CALS initiated a Community IPM educational outreach effort that is supported through USDA Smith-Lever 3d IPM funds given to Cornell Cooperative Extension. Community IPM refers to all areas of pest management not covered by Agricultural IPM including school interior/exterior, golf courses, athletic fields, landscapes, structures such as hospitals and office buildings, homes, power line and highway rights of way, and any other settings requiring environmentally sound pest management. In 1999 through the efforts of Senator Marcellino and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, a contract was signed between Cornell and DEC to provide a Community IPM program modeled after the successful agricultural program. Initial programming in Community IPM has focused on the development of school IPM programs, turf IPM programs and structural IPM. Plans for the future include work on woody ornamentals/urban forests and rights-of-way.

I. Program Organization

The organizational structure of the Program consists of IPM working groups focused on a particular setting for the practice of IPM, an operating committee, and an executive committee. In addition to the Program Director, leadership is provided by IPM Coordinators, IPM Area Educators, IPM commodity chairpersons, a grower advisory committee and a stakeholder advisory committee for Community IPM .

A. The IPM Working Groups are composed of research and extension faculty and staff, off-campus extension educators, growers, private consultants and other stakeholders. The working groups are organized around the five major areas of program focus: vegetables, livestock/field crops, fruit, ornamentals, and community. The working groups help to organize long-range plans for research and extension efforts for specific commodities/settings, identify priorities for funding projects, promote teamwork among all partners, and evaluate proposals made to the IPM grants program. Each working group is chaired by a faculty research or extension scientist who also serves on the IPM Operating Committee. The office of chairperson usually rotates regularly.

B. The IPM Operating Committee provides the primary policies and directives that guide the New York State IPM Program. Members of this committee include the chairpersons of the five IPM Working Groups, the IPM Coordinators, the IPM Program Director, Associate Directors of research at Geneva and Ithaca, an Associate Director of Cornell Cooperative Extension, the Director of the Plant Industry Program of the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets, the Director of the Cornell Pesticide Management Education Program, and an official from the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation.

C. The IPM Executive Committee provides oversight, renders final decisions on allocation of funds, creates awareness with the CALS Dean, Commissioner of Agriculture, and others, and brings the concerns of college or state administration to the IPM Operating Committee. The membership of the Executive Committee includes the Associate Directors of the two Experiment Stations, an Associate Director of Cooperative Extension, the Director of the Plant Industry Program of the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets, an official from the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, and the IPM Program Director.

D. The Statewide IPM Grower Advisory Committee is made up of about 25 agricultural producers from across the state and several Cornell Cooperative Extension educators. This committee provides advice and direction to the state IPM Program through semiannual meetings held with the Dean of CALS, the Commissioner of Agriculture and Markets, and the IPM Executive Committee.

E. The Community IPM Coordinating Council membership consists of external stakeholders, Cornell faculty, Cornell Cooperative Extension staff. The group meets twice per year to advise the program on Community IPM needs and directions.

II. Personnel, Roles, and Relationships in the Program

A. IPM Coordinators

The five IPM coordinators-for vegetables, fruit, livestock and field crops, ornamentals, and community-function as an advisory team to the director of the NYS IPM Program and report directly to him. These individuals track and integrate information on science-based IPM methods being developed in the various departments on the Cornell campuses, privately, and at other land grant institutions. Under the guidance of their respective working groups, they demonstrate, evaluate, and validate IPM practices in commercial operations, at experiment stations, and in other settings. They are also responsible for supervising IPM Extension educators and reporting impacts.

B. IPM Area Educators

State funds for the IPM Program are used to support IPM Area Educators, who serve large regions of the state and act as IPM resource people for local Extension Educators (agents and specialists). It is their role to work with county-based extension educators to provide leadership for IPM on-site demonstrations, scout training sessions, workshops, data evaluation, and reporting, and to make clientele aware of the most current IPM developments.

Extension IPM Area Educators are housed either in Cooperative Extension offices in various counties, in off-campus Cornell facilities, or on the Ithaca or Geneva campus.

C. The Role of College Faculty and Staff

The primary role of faculty and staff in support of IPM efforts is to develop science-based IPM methods, practices, and recommendations. Scientists from 14 departments on the Geneva and Ithaca campuses and staff located at laboratories on Long Island, in the Hudson Valley, and at Fredonia contribute to IPM program development.

D. The Role of Off-Campus Extension Educators

Extension Educators (agents and specialists) working in concert with IPM Area Educators and other college staff, play a major role in implementing IPM projects. They work with various interested parties to help to ensure adoption of IPM practices.

E. Relationship of the Work of the IPM Coordinators and the Extension IPM Area Educators to the Efforts of the Faculty

Both the IPM Coordinators and the IPM Area Educators build their educational outreach on the science developed by the faculty. They add to that knowledge base through demonstrations of that knowledge, through their efforts to communicate the new knowledge, and through validation or evaluation of projects that examine the fit of that new information. They get their best direction from team meetings of the various disciplinary scientists and off-campus staff who contribute their time and knowledge to the IPM effort.

IPM Coordinators and IPM Area Educators work with other extension educators to conduct on-farm demonstrations and carry out knowledge evaluation/validation activities.

F. Relationship of IPM Area Educators to County or Area-Based Extension Educators

IPM Area Educators serve as the primary resource for IPM educational outreach efforts throughout the Cornell Cooperative Extension system. They work with local extension staff to enhance their IPM outreach and work as ad hoc members of most area educator teams. They keep extension off-campus staff in their region aware of new IPM research findings, work to demonstrate or validate IPM practices, contribute information and articles to the local extension newsletters, and offer unique educational options to local extension staff. Sometimes they have a background role in IPM projects, other times they are leaders of projects.

G. Relationship of the IPM Coordinators and IPM Area Educators to the IPM Program and to Extension Leadership

For purposes of administration each IPM Coordinator is guided by the IPM Program Director and the Chairperson of the respective IPM Working Group. Coordinators develop yearly plans of work and have their previous activities reviewed by the IPM Program director. The director usually shares this information with the chairperson of the respective IPM Commodity Working Group. IPM Coordinators are the team leaders for their area of expertise and responsibility

IPM area educators are jointly administered by the IPM Program Director and the appropriate IPM Coordinator. IPM area educators develop yearly plans of work, usually with the input of IPM Working Groups, IPM coordinators, their off-campus extension peers, and stakeholder advisory groups.

H. Relationship of the IPM Program to the State of New York

The IPM Program primarily relates to the state of New York through the Department of Agriculture and Markets and the Department of Environmental Conservation although connections are maintained with other state offices, the governor’s office and the legislature.

I. Program Communication With the On- and Off-Campus Cornell Community

The IPM Program recognizes the need to communicate effectively with the many individuals who make up the IPM effort at CALS and in Cooperative Extension. The Program strives to communicate news, granting opportunities, reports, and other program information through the use of electronic technology-including a World Wide Web site and electronic mail- quarterly newsletters, and the program's annual report.

III. Information Used in the IPM Program

How Is IPM Information Developed and Extended Through Educational Outreach?

IPM information is usually developed by scientists working in both laboratory and field settings. That information is often validated and evaluated through collaboration of the scientists with IPM coordinators, off-campus extension educators including extension IPM area educators, and New York agricultural producers.

One of the most effective ways of developing and extending IPM knowledge is through specific crop teams of scientists and educators. The most successful teams hold at least one meeting per year to examine the latest research results, evaluate the effectiveness of current outreach efforts, establish priorities for the crop or pest system, decide on the best demonstrations for the coming year, and outline plans for new research.

IV. The IPM Grants Program

Each year the New York State IPM Program provides funds either for agricultural and community IPM projects that will demonstrate IPM concepts to stakeholders (implementation) or projects that need one or two years of funding to validate new IPM knowledge and technology (research). Each fall the program issues a request for proposals (RFP) for research projects and for implementation projects. The RFP contains a list of priorities developed by the IPM Working Groups. Proposals are usually due in late January. IPM grant proposals are first evaluated by the IPM Working Groups, who rank them and advise the IPM Executive Committee on funding. The IPM Executive Committee makes final decisions on funding of proposals according to the priorities outlined in the long-range plan for IPM. Project leaders are notified of funding decisions in April, and projects usually begin activity then. The funding cycle for the grants program is completed when the project leader of each funded proposal files a report on the project with the IPM Program office in December.

Written by Curt Petzoldt, IPM Program Assistant Director, 6/20/01