Knowing is half the battle: Increasing awareness of biocontrol as part of IPM through digital outreach
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The retirement of its creator necessitates the migration of the website “Biological Control: A Guide to Natural Enemies in North America” to a new domain where it can be maintained and continue to serve as an important resource to a range of audiences, including farmers, extension staff, and the general public. This migration also creates the opportunity to re-design and update the website so that it is more useful and usable to target audiences. Updates will include reducing text, adding pictures, adding additional biocontrol agents, creating and linking short videos, and creating a database of biocontrol agents. This database will make it easier to search for information about specific biocontrol agents, or biocontrol options in specific crops or settings. It will also enable the generation of on-demand fact sheets on biocontrol. These fact sheets will be easier to update and easier to distribute to stakeholders, including those who do not have access to the internet. Updates to the website will be planned using input from focus groups representing stakeholders around the Northeast. The updated Biological Control website will be a great resource for extension agents and stakeholders across all agricultural commodities and among the general public, increasing knowledge and awareness of biocontrol as an important IPM strategy. This increase in knowledge and awareness has the potential to increase the successful use of biocontrol for pest management, decrease the use of chemical pesticides, and decrease risks to human health and the environment, while increasing effective and economical pest management in a variety of settings across the Northeast. In this first year of the project, focus groups have been used to gather information from stakeholders and the template for biocontrol agent profiles has be re-designed.