Annual Report for Smith-Lever Funded Projects
Weather based pest forecast models are important tools for IPM implementation. The Network for Environmental and Weather Applications (NEWA) (http://newa.cornell.edu) provides forecasts for important pests of fruits and vegetables. A 2007 survey (Carroll et al.) of farmers using NEWA showed that use of pest forecasts saved an average $19,500 in spray costs and prevented an average of $264,000 in crop losses each year. The survey also found that vegetable growers comprised only 30% of users, a level we hope to increase through this project. We will update the NEWA vegetable models to improve the user interface and incorporate forecast weather. We will also investigate new vegetable models that could be added to NEWA. To date, have updated the models for late blight, a serious pest of potato and tomato, the degree-day model for cabbage maggot, a pest of multiple crucifer crops, the onion maggot and disease models and are in the process of updating the tomato and potato disease models. We have decided to add germination models for six weed species in the next funding cycle.