IPM IMPLEMENTATION IN PENNSYLVANIA: PROGRAMS FOR AGRICULTURAL AND URBAN COMMUNITIES

For more than ten years the Pennsylvania IPM Program has evolved into and internationally recognized extension and outreach organization promoting pest management awareness and practice that are economical and protective of the human health and the environment. We are proposing to build on our success by maintaining our base program and expanding our activities in promising emphasis areas. In 2002, the USDA launched the National Road Map for IPM, touting IPM as a critical strategy to "protect human health" and to "protect agricultural, urban and natural resource environments from pest and invasive species encroachment while minimizing unreasonable adverse effects on soil, water, air, and beneficial organisms. In addition to its research underpinnings, IPM has benefited from an extensive education effort organized under Smith-Lever 3d since the early 1970s. Virtually all states and many territories have IPM programs that are part of this system. The Pennsylvania Integrated Pest Management Program (PAIPM) is unique in that it formally combines the efforts of Penn State University (PSU) and the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture (PDA). This alliance recognizes that there are several entities in the state that have a stake in IPM. More than 10 years ago the Pennsylvania Secretary of Agriculture and the Dean of Penn State's College of Agriculture signed a memorandum of understanding to that effect. Subsequently, other MOUs have been signed by the departments of Health, Education and Environmental Protection as well as the Penn State College of Education to address IPM issues. Under this arrangement there are PAIPM personnel both at the University Park campus of Penn State as well as the PDA in Harrisburg (directed by PDA IPM coordinator, Catherine Thomas). With our entry into urban/consumer/school programming, PAIPM has established a staffed office in Philadelphia, our most populous city. This project will address IPM education and implementation for agricultural and urban communities.