May 30, 2024

Pest Management Solutions for Specialty Crops and Specialty Uses

The following is a recap of news and updates released by

The IR-4 Project during the month of May.

LATEST NEWS

New IR-4 Video Looks Beyond Our 60th Year

Now that IR-4's 60th year has concluded, we're looking ahead to the next 60 years of success. At the 2023 Food Use Workshop, we had the privilege of interviewing IR-4 research and industry collaborators from around the U.S., asking them about IR-4's impacts and how they envision our future work. Learn from their perspectives in our latest video, The IR-4 Project: 60 Years and Beyond.

The new video can be found on our homepage (scroll down to "Learn More About IR-4). The first 60 Years of IR-4 video (previously on our homepage) can now be found on the About IR-4 page. Together, these two videos illustrate IR-4’s meaningful 60-year track record of success, and where we’re headed as agriculture evolves. Watch the new video on YouTube here:

New Success Story: Methoxyfenozide on Rice

Read the latest success story by David Kuack, highlighting IR-4's work to deliver a solution to California rice growers following 2015's devastating armyworm outbreak.

EVENT UPDATES

Registration is Open for the Industry Technology Session

Registration is now open for the annual IR-4 Project Industry Technology Session. This event will be held virtually (via Zoom) on Thursday, July 18, 2024, from 11:30 a.m. to approximately 4 p.m. ET.

This event features updates from companies on products already in IR-4 research, as well as new technologies designed to meet the pest management needs of specialty crop producers. The Industry Technology Session is a precursor to the 2024 Food Use Workshop.

Visit the event web page to register and learn more about the Industry Technology Session. We will share an agenda closer to the event date.

Interested in presenting during the ITS? Please contact us at ir-4_project@ncsu.edu for more information.

Research Symposium Presentations Available for Viewing

Thank you to all who joined our 2024 Research Symposium: Food Crops! IR-4's biology team enjoyed sharing results from impactful plant pathology, entomology and weed science projects. If you missed the Symposium or would like to revisit the content, you may now view the recorded presentations via the event web page.

2024 Food Use Workshop — Registration coming soon!

The IR-4 Project's annual Food Use Workshop will take place September 10-12, 2024 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Research priorities for residue, product performance and integrated solutions studies for 2025 will be identified during this workshop. A virtual option will be available for participants unable to attend in person.

The workshop will take place at the Renaissance Milwaukee West Hotel. A block of hotel rooms is available for our in-person meeting attendees from September 8- 13. Rooms must be reserved by Monday, August 12, 2024 to receive the group rate of $183/night. Visit the event web page for a room booking link.

A tentative agenda will be shared soon; we anticipate full days of programming on September 10-11, concluding with a half-day on September 12.

Registration information will be shared next week (via this newsletter and our website)! Please bookmark the event web page, where all the event details will be added as our team finalizes them. We hope to see you in Milwaukee!

Join Us as a 2024 IR-4 Event Sponsor

Sponsors make events like the Food Use Workshop possible and help IR-4 deliver on its grower-focused mission. Are you interested in sponsoring IR-4’s 2024 events? Please reach out to ir-4_project@ncsu.edu for more information.

Take Note: New Deadline for Project Requests

In anticipation of the 2024 Food Use Workshop, IR-4 has set key deadlines to help our stakeholders prepare for this collaborative priority-setting event. The most notable date is a new, earlier deadline for the submission of Project Clearance Requests (PCRs). While this deadline has typically been in mid-August, this year's PCR deadline is July 31.

The goal of the earlier deadline is to give industry and regulatory stakeholders (and IR-4 staff) a bit more time for the increasingly complex PCR review process that occurs ahead of the Workshop.

Have a specialty food crop pest problem in mind that you'd like considered at the workshop? Contact your Regional Field Coordinator to get involved in regional priority setting meetings, or visit the Submit a Request page* to get started on a project clearance request (PCR).

*This page also features a video on how to complete a PCR!

IR-4 CAREER OPPORTUNITIES

IR-4 Southern Region Now Hiring Regional Field Coordinator

The IR-4 Southern Region office at the University of Florida seeks a Regional Field Coordinator (Research Coordinator III). Visit our Careers page to find more information and link to UF's job posting. Join us in spreading the word (or submit your application!) so we can help grow this talented team.

IR-4 Headquarters Seeks Environmental Horticulture Program Manager to Join NC State Team

RESEARCH UPDATES

Food Crops

The following tolerance success was added to the IR-4 website in May. Find other tolerance successes under Food Crop Successes & Stories.

• Cyclaniliprole (Federal Register date: April 23, 2024)

Environmental Horticulture

The following research summaries were posted to the Environmental Horticulture Program page in May:

— Stay tuned for more in June —

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This material is based upon work that is supported by the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, U.S. Department of Agriculture, under award numbers 2022-79111-38469 and 2021-34383-34848 with substantial cooperation and support from the State Agricultural Experiment Stations, USDA-ARS and USDA-FAS. In accordance with Federal Law and U.S. Department of Agriculture policy, this institution is prohibited from discriminating on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, age or disability.