Welcome to our fall edition of the Integrated Pest Management Innovation Lab newsletter. We’ve been very busy and productive over the last few months and I’m excited to share with you some of what we’ve done.
Last June, we conducted our sixth workshop on Trichoderma, this time at the Royal Agriculture University in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Then on July 7-8th, we held our Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) and Program Planning Committee (PPC) meetings here at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg. Dr. Lawrence Datnoff from Louisiana State University and Dr. George Norton from Virginia Tech were selected as Chairs of TAC and PPC, respectively.
Read Full Story >
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The IPM Innovation Lab holds its sixth Trichoderma workshop
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S. Nakkeeran, a plant pathologist from Tamil Nadu Agricultural University in India, shows workshop participants how to gather soil samples for growing Trichoderma. Nakkeeran led the week-long Trichoderma workshop.
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This past June, this IPM Innovation Lab held its sixth workshop on the fungus Trichoderma, this time at the Royal University of Agriculture in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Trichoderma is a beneficial fungus that eats "bad" fungi and almost promotes plant growth. You can read our Virginia Tech news story on the workshop here: Read Full Story >
You can watch a short video about the workshop here >
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Tuta absoluta confirmed in Nepal and Bangladesh
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Two new countries have succumbed to the tomato leafminer invasion. Scientists in Bangladesh and Nepal – after training from a Virginia Tech-led program – have identified the same tiny moth responsible for the wholesale destruction of this year's Nigerian tomato crop.
Officials in Bangladesh and Nepal knew how to read clues because scientists taught them what to look for in two workshops last year. The Integrated Pest Management Innovation Lab, headquartered at Virginia Tech, assembled teams of experts in Bangladesh and Nepal to prepare scientists and farmers for the pest's inevitable spread. Read Full Story >
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Joint Meeting of the Technical Advisory and Program Coordinating Committees
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On July 7th and 8th, 2016, the IPM Innovation Lab hosted a joint meeting of our project PIs and our Technical Advisory Committee. The meeting, which took place over two days at the Inn at Virginia Tech, was the first time that many of the PIs and member of the TAC had met. Attendees came from all over the United States, as well as from as far as the Philippines, Vietnam, Ethiopia, and Taiwan.
Read Full Story >
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IPM Innovation Lab holds Plant Virus workshop in Cambodia
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The IPM Innovation Lab conducted a three-day workshop on “Diagnosis and Management of Plant Virus Diseases” at the Plant Pathology Division of the Royal University of Agriculture (RUA) in Phnom Penh, Cambodia from August 10-12, 2016. The main objective of this workshop was to provide training on plant virus disease diagnosis and management. This workshop was jointly organized by the IPM Innovation Lab and iDE Cambodia. The workshop is part of a long-term strategy of building the scientific capacity of plant pathologists, extension personnel, and NGO staff in Cambodia to mitigate crop losses due to viral diseases in vegetable crops in subsistence agriculture. Read Full Story >
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Jon Eisenback, second from right, professor of plant nematology at Virginia Tech’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, testing soil in the fields of Cambodia with postdoctoral associate Paulo Viera, second from left.
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As part of both our Vegetable IPM in Asia and Rice IPM in Cambodia projects, Virginia Tech nematologist Jon Eisenback and postdoctoral associate Paulo Viera traveled to Cambodia to do nematode surveys on vegetables and rice. Read Full Story on Virginia Tech News >
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IPM Innovation Lab goes to the International Congress of Entomology
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The IPM Innovation led two symposia at the Congress of Entomolgy in Orlando in September. One was on IPM packages for tropical crops, the other on the global spread of the South American tomato leafminer, Tuta absoluta, which resulted in the group recommending a number of measures to help fight the spread of the invasive pest. Read Full Story on Virginia Tech News >
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Other Highlights and Happenings
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Beetle damages invasive weed in Ethiopia
Our "Biological control of the invasive weed Parthenium hysterophorus in East Africa" had some very exciting news as the weed-eating beetle Zygogramma bicolorata, was released in sites around Wollenchiti, Ethiopia and has established and begun causing damage to Parthenium weed. Read Full Story >
IPM Innovation Lab participates in Virginia Tech's Hokie Bugfest
Last month, the IPM Innovation Lab participated in Hokie Bugfest, a one-day celebration of all things insect. While it's geared towards children, kids and parents alike learn and have a great time. In total, the Bugfest had over 7,000 visitor. Read Full Story >
Biological control agents are farmers’ friends
The International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), under the aegis of their Rice IPM project with IPM IL, collaborated with GIZ to conduct a biocontrol forum in Phnom Penh with roughly 140 participants. Read Full Story >
Parthenium presentation in Algiers
Wondi Mersie, PI for the IPM Innovation Lab’s Biological control of the invasive weed Parthenium hysterophorus in East Africa project, was invited by Dr. Shoki Al-Dobai, Crop Protection Officer for FAO to speak about the spread, economic, social and environmental importance and management practices of the Parthenium at the Annual Regional Workshop of the International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC) for the Near East and North Africa region held in Algiers, Algeria this past September. Read Full Story >
IPM Innovation Lab Publications
We have created a list of all of our publications from 1993-2016. Please take a look here>
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The IPM Innovation Lab in the press
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Mark your calendars, there’s a lot to look forward to!
Rice IPM in Cambodia Planning Meeting
December 1-2, in Siem Reap, Cambodia
Sensitizing Workshop on Tuta absoluta: An Impending Threat to Tomato
December 5-6, 2016 in Dhaka, Bangladesh
International Conference on Biodiversity, Climate Change Assessment, and Impacts on Livelihood
January 10-12, 2017 in Kathmandu, Nepal
Asia Vegetable and Mango IPM Planning Meeting
January 23 - February 4, 2017 in Cambodia, Bangladesh, and Nepal
12th Arab Congress of Plant Protection
November 5-9, 2017 in Cairo, Egypt
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