November 30, 2023

The following is a recap of news and updates announced by The IR-4 Project during the month of November.

2023 IR-4 SOAR Awardees Announced

The IR-4 Project is pleased to announce the winners of the 2023 SOAR Award: Ricardo Bessin, Daniel Gilrein, and Ronda Hirnyck (pictured above, left to right).

The SOAR Award honors external partners who exemplify the areas of Service, Outreach, Altruism and Research while supporting specialty crop growers and the mission of The IR-4 Project. This year’s winners have made significant contributions not only to their research areas, but to the specialty crop industry as a whole. Read the full story on our website to learn more about these exceptional leaders in our community.

Thankful for 60 Years

At the 2023 Food Use Workshop, we asked IR-4 team members and stakeholders how they'd complete the phrase, "60 years of __________."

The answers illustrate IR-4's broad impacts, and celebrate IR-4's tight-knit community. During this season of thanks, we're grateful to do this work alongside such purpose-driven people.

Cheers to 60 Years!

We're Hiring at Headquarters

The IR-4 Project seeks an Environmental Horticulture Program Manager to join its Headquarters team based on North Carolina State University’s Centennial Campus.

Reporting to the Executive Director, this role will coordinate research and pesticide (bio-based and chemical) registration activities on non-food, ornamental plant species. This position is aligned with the IR-4 Project mission to facilitate regulatory approval of sustainable pest management technology for specialty crops, including ornamental crops and other environmental horticulture uses. This is a full-time (40 hours per week), EHRA non-faculty position.

Visit our Careers page to learn more about the role and apply.

Register for the Global Minor Use Summit IV

Mark your calendar and register today for the next Global Minor Use Summit: February 5–9, 2024, in Madrid, Spain. The Minor Use Foundation, in partnership with the U.S. Department of Agriculture Foreign Agricultural Services (USDA FAS), will bring together growers and global agricultural experts for a three-day conference to explore the unique challenges of minor crop cultivation and international trade. The conference agenda also includes a guided group visit to nearby extension services.

IR-4 is proud to support this event and encourages our community of pest management researchers and specialty crop stakeholders to take part.

Visit the Minor Use Foundation website to learn more and register.

There were no new tolerance successes added in November. These most recent successes were added to our website in October (they are found under Food Crop Successes & Stories):

• Flonicamid (Federal Register date: September 20, 2023)
• Spinetoram (Federal Register date: September 5, 2023)

ENVIRONMENTAL HORTICULTURE UPDATES

Four research updates were posted to the Environmental Horticulture Program page in November, including two crop vignettes and two crop safety summaries:

CROP SAFETY SUMMARIES

• Dimethenamid-p Crop Safety
• Prodiamine + Isoxaben Crop Safety

CROP VIGNETTES

• Eastern Redbud
• Flowering Dogwood

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.