ADVANCING PRECISION INTEGRATED DISEASE AND INSECT PEST MANAGEMENT IN POTATO WITH AGRICULTURAL INFORMATICS

With the valuable dataset of past scouting pest levels for insects and diseases, we will be able to determine "IPM risk aversion" tools and strategies for growers to make better use of these historical scouting data and more precisely time and direct application of IPM approaches. The research that we propose, will result in a significant shift in IPM thought based on our ability to use new technology to predict pest occurrence and manage pests with greater precision and less risk. We propose to work initially with established Healthy Grown growers to demonstrate the benefits of this research, encourage rapid adoption of new practices and work with these growers to use evidence-based learning to achieve adoption throughout the industry.Objective 1. Using an informatics approach to define temporal and spatial pest onset.Objective 2. Observing temporal changes and phenology in the timing of arrival and infestation/infection onset for select, critically important potato pests and diseases including, CPB, early blight, and late blight.Objective 3. Characterizing insect and disease abundance towards the development of risk maps combining eco-physiological knowledge, weather, and habitat variability.Objective 4. Steward adoption of advanced IPM techniques produced through risk aversion strategies resulting from our work.