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Pest Exclusion Systems for Pest Management in Vegetable Production Across the Southeast

In organic vegetable production, and in situations where farmers are seeking to reduce chemical applications, Integrated Pest Management (IPM) strategies are recommended to exclude pests in both opens fields and in high tunnels. The principles of pest exclusion involve separating the insect pest from the host plant and protecting the crop at a specific growth stage. Careful planning of both materials selected and management design are important to keeping pests out of a cash crop. This bulletin provides data and information from on-farm demonstrations on the use of pest exclusion systems. Pest exclusion systems use shade cloths as a barrier around high tunnels, low tunnels and hoop houses to exclude insect pests.

Common Ground Podcast

Welcome to Common Ground from the University of Georgia's Southern Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education program. Sustainable agriculture stories from the Southern USA, introducing farmers, ranchers, and those who support them as well as innovative practices from around the Southern United States, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. Listen in as they tell their stories […]

USVI Cooperatives Development towards Sustainable Agriculture

Getting ‘back to the basics' is a common phrase heard throughout the community. The basics or pillars of sustainable agriculture based on the Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program are quality of life, stewardship, and profitability. In 2021, Louis E. Petersen, Jr. state coordinator at the University of the Virgin Islands School of Agriculture was […]

FAMACHA

FAMACHA is a diagnostic tool to help farmers identify parasite infection in small ruminants, allowing them to cut the cost of deworming agents by targeting treatments only to infected animals. Training is required before purchase.

Preparing Producers for the Grass-fed Beef Industry

MISSISSIPPI STATE, Mississippi -- Livestock producers in the Southeast are getting the educational resources and training they need to meet the consumer demand for grass-fed beef. In states like Mississippi and Alabama, where production and marketing materials, field events, enterprise budgets, and training programs in forage-finished beef are lacking, researchers at Mississippi State University, Auburn […]

Check Out These Resources to Calculate Food Waste on the Farm

RALEIGH, North Carolina – For farmers concerned about food waste on the farm, North Carolina State University researchers are developing tools and other educational resources that would help farmers calculate on-farm produce losses and then find ways to bring those products to market. In a newly funded Southern Sustainable Agriculture Research & Education Grant (LS17-280), […]

Business Decision-Making Tools Available from Southern SAWG

FAYETTEVILLE, Arkansas – Ag service providers working with small to mid-scale producers on business decision-making have a series of resource tools available to them that address profitability management challenges faced by those in the industry. Through a Southern Sustainable Agriculture Research & Education (SSARE) Professional Development Program Grant, the Southern Sustainable Agriculture Working Group (SSAWG) […]

Biomass Energy Training Curriculum

This curriculum  provides training on biomass energy to extension agents and local officials so that they may deliver this information to their stakeholders. While it is written as a training guide for TN, much of the information is applicable throughout the Southeastern US region.

NRCS Campaign Overview: Unlocks Secrets in the Soil

Since the official launch of the Natural Resource Conservation Service’s (NRCS) “Unlock the Secrets in the Soil Campaign” in October of 2012, the soil health movement has continued to grow, with cover crop and soil health management system adoption rates climbing and stakeholder interest increasing throughout the nation.

High Tunnel Pest Exclusion System

Insect pests are one of the major problems in organic production systems. Organic IPM practice consists of a three-tiered approach consisting of systems-based practices, mechanical tactics, and biorational insecticides. Mechanical tactics encourage the use of physical barriers for pest exclusion. This bulletin provides preliminary research data and field observations about the success of shade cloths, or high tunnel pest exclusion (HTPE) systems, as a more permanent barrier system around the high tunnels.

High Tunnel Pest Exclusion System Part II

With the increasing demand for local foods across the Southeast, an increasing number of beginning, as well as experienced producers are producing vegetable crops in high tunnels for direct and whole sale markets. From the insect management perspective, it is extremely critical to adopt pest prevention practices; the high tunnel pest exclusion (HTPE) system is one of the best relatively-low cost pest preventive practices available to producers in the Southeast. This HTPE technology uses a variety of shade cloths for a relatively permanent pest prevention strategy. This bulletin provides information on the use of HTPE systems on the farm.