May 1, 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 April.

LATEST NEWS

IR-4 Honors Ken Trammel With Special Recognition

The IR-4 Project honored Ken Trammel in 2023 with a Special Recognition Award. Trammel, owner of ACDS Freezer Transport Services, has been a longtime partner and steadfast supporter of IR-4’s work. Marylee Ross, IR-4’s Northeast Regional Field Coordinator, wrote a story to highlight Trammel’s work so that we might all take a moment to celebrate his pioneering career.

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.

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

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.

Stay tuned for registration information (coming soon!). For now, 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!

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!

HEADQUARTERS TEAM UPDATES

IR-4 Welcomes Two Study Directors

IR-4 Project Headquarters at NC State University is pleased to announce the hiring of two Study Directors with IR-4’s regulatory sciences team:

Jessica Macari comes to IR-4 from Syngenta AG in Greensboro, NC, where she worked as a Study Monitor - Residue Science. We are delighted to welcome Jessica to the IR-4 Headquarters team! Jessica can be reached at: jessica_macari@ncsu.edu or (919) 515-1811. 

Jimmy Byrtus transitioned to a full-time Study Director position on March 18, 2024. Jimmy has been with the IR-4 Project since October 2020, serving first as a Research Assistant and then as the Lead Research Associate - Regulatory Sciences. We are thrilled to have Jimmy extend his talents into this new position at IR-4 Headquarters! Contact Jimmy at: jpbyrtus@ncsu.edu or (919) 515-3017. 

Career Opportunity

The IR-4 Project Environmental Horticulture Program (EHP) Manager position will be tasked with coordinating research and pesticide (bio-based and chemical) registration activities on non-food, ornamental plant species within the IR-4 Project. This position will be based at the IR-4 Headquarters office at NC State University.

RESEARCH UPDATES

Food Crops

The following tolerance success was added to the IR-4 website in March (none were added in April). Find other tolerance successes under Food Crop Successes & Stories.

• Triclopyr (Federal Register date: February 28, 2024)

Environmental Horticulture

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

— Stay tuned for more in May —

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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.