Southern IPM Center Partnership

<p>This report addresses both the core project - Southern IPM Center Partnership - and the IPM Information System supplement.The Southern IPM Center (SIPMC), is one of four regional IPM Centers. SIPMC goals reflect broader goals of IPM as expressed in the National IPM Roadmap: to sustain and enhance environmental, economic and human health by applying IPM in all appropriate settings. </p>
The Southern IPM Center's role in the context of these grand global goals include:
<ul><li>To increase coordination and improve efficiency of IPM research and extension efforts by organizing timely responses to emerging issues of regional importance;</li>
<li>To facilitate collaboration by acting as a focal point and facilitator of communications thatpromote sound IPM-related decisions;</li>
<li>To promote further development and adoption of IPM through regional information networks, collaborative team building and broad-based stakeholder participation;</li>
<li>To document the impacts and value of IPM strategies, techniques, programs and projects, building support for IPM among the general public and public policymakers. </li></ul>
<p>The IPM Information System (IPM IS) project is funded as a supplement to the core project. To paraphrase National IPM Roadmap, our goal is to develop and implement IPM in ways that preserve and enhance environmental quality, economic profitability, and human health in all settings. This project addresses a small but important part of that grand goal: to provide information systems (IS) support to the USDA's IPM program portfolio through development, implementation and maintenance of useful tools and processes that provide ready access to important information, enhance networking, and facilitate effective collaboration across the IPM stakeholder community.(a) State of the art delivery of IPM information: This project will maintain, enhance and expand the cohort of products that delivers state of the art IPM information to a wide variety of stakeholders and customers. Components include: information currently located at www.ipm.gov and www.ipmcenters.org; the online IPM eAcademy, a forum for presentations addressing timely and important IPM issues (new); information about and presented at Regional IPM Roundtables (new) and the tri-annual International IPM Symposium; a national iteration of the NEIMPC's IPM Resources database; enhancement of a tick management smartphone app (new); and online instruction in use of reporting and visualization tools for IPM (new).(b) Impact information and logic model tools: SIPMC will continue to collect and synthesize impact information from NIFA-supported projects for incorporation into the interagency IPM Project Database. We will maintain and work with RIPMC partners to enhance the PPMS tool that feeds content - records - to that database. We will maintain the existing Logic Model website, updating content when it is provided to us. We will manage and contribute to the national IPM success story area of the new national website.(c) Web-based networking tools for IPM research and extension personnel: SIPMC will facilitate networking among the National IPM Centers, NIFA IPM staff and other stakeholders through traditional methods (email, teleconference) as well as newer online methods (Basecamp©, GoToMeeting©, GoToWebinar©.) We will continue to facilitate the National IPM Centers IT subcommittee, and to serve the online content of the National IPM Symposium website.(d) Reference and information support tool for setting IPM program priorities. This project will continue to serve as a reference and decision support tool for setting IPM program priorities through continued support of the IPM Documents databases. We will maintain and (working with RIPMC partners) enhance the PPMS tool used by RIPMCs to manage grant competitions. We will manage and maintain the existing IPM documents database. We will complete development of, release and then enhance the CLD tool to modernize use of CP and PMSP information. </p>