Did you know?
Stress at one point in a season may have indirect consequences on fibre quality
• A one day workshop for the participants of the GRDC National Invertebrate Pest Initiative [NIPI] network was held at Orange Agricultural Research Station on November 12-13 2007.
• The Workshop included a brief session of updates on NIPI activities, but the main focus was to assess current understanding of the potential impacts of climate change on the implementation and success of integrated pest management practices in braodacre cropping systems.
• The Workshop was broadened beyond the grains industries to include consideration of cotton, horticulture, rice and forestry industries with representation from researchers in those industries and some financial support from cotton and horticulture.
• Overall the workshop served largely to raise awareness of the diverse issues associated with climate change and its potential impacts on IPM in a variety of contexts and to formulate some potential research opportunities where key questions might be addressed within NIPI or across broader agricultural collaborations.
• A particular focus was on the impact of climate cahnge on the species interactions which underpin IPM: the interactions across trophic levels among plants – pests – beneficials, the interactions of pests with control tactics and the interaction of climate with the regional ecology of key invertebrate pests.
• Participants gained considerable insight from the presentations and perspectives identified in the discussion sessions. A number of key areas for future research were identified and some specific recommendations were reached.
• It must be noted that while many of the recommendations suggest that the National Invertebrate Pest Initiative should recource a number of initiatives, the limited funding currently available for NIPI will not allow all these to be supported. Integrated projects with support from multiple agencies [grains, cotton, horticulture] will be needed.
