A NOVEL SOCIO-ECOLOGICAL APPROACH FOR PROMOTING AREAWIDE ADOPTION OF ORGANIC FARMING PRACTICES THAT ENHANCE MICROBIALLY MEDIATED PEST CONTROL

The long-term goal of my research is to develop an area wide pest management program that is readily adopted by organic farmers that promotes plant health and productivity (USDA AFRI Priority Area #1). To achieve the goal of a flexible area wide pest management program for organic farmers, I will merge social science, molecular biology, and ecology. I will survey organic farmers to determine their beliefs and production practices and use soil samples from their farms to examine the practices that promote soil microbiomes, enhance plant defense, and increase pest suppression. I will extend this new knowledge on pest suppressive management techniques to farmers and determine the practices that farmers are willing to adopt to promote area wide organic pest management.My project has three objectives:Objective 1: Conduct organic farmer and soil microbiome surveyObjective 2: Examine pest suppression capacity of soil microbiomesObjective 3: Extend results to farmers and determine adoption