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The 23rd annual Alcorn State University Extension Program (ASUEP) Small Farmers Conference, slated for March 24-26, 2014, will be held at the Jackson Convention Complex, 105 E. Pascagoula St., Jackson, Miss. “Using Smarter Innovations to Strengthen Agriculture” is this year’s conference theme. The event is co-sponsored by Alcorn Extension and the Mississippi Association of Cooperatives (MAC).
From the Asheville Citizen-Times
Ten years ago, before the effects of the woolly adelgid were seen in Western North Carolina, forests were lush with majestic hemlock trees.
Today, in the blink of an eye in geological time, millions of the evergreen trees have been lost from Alabama to Maine, victims of the tiny insect from Japan that has found a favorable climate.
The 2014 Integrated Pest Management Training will be Wednesday, March 5, at the University of Kentucky Research and Education Center in Princeton. The program will start at 9 a.m. CST and end at 3 p.m.
Specialists in the UK College of Agriculture, Food and Environment will discuss problems and challenges producers faced during the 2013 growing season including: invasive insects, buffering the soil nitrogen supply against changing weather and managing resistant weeds. A session on IPM-related apps will discuss resources for pest identification, pesticide safety and nutrient management.
Environmental groups appear to be setting their sights on the neonicotinoid class of insecticides and other pesticide compounds as the main culprits in honey bee population declines.
The evidence the insecticides are the main cause is sketchy, and the loss of those would put many farmers in an unprofitable situation, according to Jeff Gore, research entomologist at Mississippi State University’s Delta Research and Extension Center.
Researchers trying to gain a better understanding of declines in bee populations have found higher concentrations of neonicotinoid insecticides in the foliage of wild flowers located along field borders than they expected.
by Frances Robles
A painful mosquito-borne virus common in Africa and Asia has advanced quickly throughout the eastern Caribbean in the past two months, raising the prospect that a once-distant illness will become entrenched throughout the region, public health experts say.
Sustainable and organic production continues to be an important topic in Oklahoma. Oklahoma State University Cooperative Extension and OSU-OKC are partnering with several other organizations to help provide research-based information to both new and advanced growers.
By Danny Pierce, North Carolina Agricultural Consultants Association
I have been taking soil and nematode samples in Eastern North Carolina for 33 years. I’ve seen lots of changes in these years, especially with nematodes. The most drastic change has been the introduction of a new species of root knot — eloidogyne enterlobii. It is also called meloidoyne mayaguensis.
The Ounce of Prevention Integrated Pest Management (IPM) For Schools and Child Care Facilities is intended for school and childcare facility staff, parents, and pest management professionals.
Everyone has a role in IPM to prevent and manage pests in and around schools and childcare facilities. The base of any good indoor air quality program, pest control program or environmental health program all hinges on good your IPM program is. Do you inspect? Do you monitor?
Southern Region IPM News 