Awards issued prior to january 20, 2025, were funded under previous administrations and may not reflect the priorities and policies of the current administration.** swede midge is a highly-damaging…

Awards issued prior to january 20, 2025, were funded under previous administrations and may not reflect the priorities and policies of the current administration.** swede midge is a highly-damaging invasive species of brassica crops. In regions where IT has become established, losses up to 100% have been reported. The central problem is the lack of effective reduced-risk tools and tactics for both organic and conventional vegetable growers. As a result, conventional growers have increased their use of neonicotinoid and systemic insecticides, while some organic growers have stopped growing brassica crops. The midge has recently expanded to nine new states, so new pest management tools are urgently needed. We have evidence pheromone mating disruption can be effective in managing the midge and reducing marketable losses. But the main challenge is around the effective deployment of PMD in annual rotational vegetable systems. Here, our specific goals are to: 1) compare pheromone dispensers to determine efficacy and affordability, 2) compare how field weathering affects the attractiveness of the male midges, 3) determine how to deploy pheromone mating disruption within an annual cropping system, and 4) develop tools for educating growers nationally about this serious new pest. The novelty of this proposal rests on the use of midge mating behavior to identify where pheromones should be deployed within annual cropping systems. By developing an economical and effective PMD system, goals are to develop an effective PMD system (USDA cppm #1 plant protection tactics and tools) while training a predoctoral and undergraduate students (USDA cppm #5 development of the next generation of IPM scientists).