The Crop Protection Network (CPN) has added an additional publication series to its wealth of print and PDF resources. Beginning in 2020, CPN’s online library will feature annual Research Updates, highlighting advancements in crop-pest research. These publications are intended to distill published, academic research articles into referable, easy-to-understand summaries. This ensures that growers, Certified Crop Advisors (CCAs), extension specialists and researchers and others in crop protection are armed with the most updated information possible when making crop protection decisions.
As CPN continues to adapt to the national demand for crop protection tools and resources, the executive committee has received requests to convert complicated research findings into extension-oriented articles that, in some cases, wouldn’t have been accessible to the people that need them most. As some scholarly articles require a paid subscription, and are sometimes difficult to understand for the general user, those in need of crop protection information are left without crucial information. These Research Updates address this problem by converting scientific manuscripts to accessible publications to be widely used by non-scientist audience members, including those directly responsible for pest management decisions on field crop acres.
“Sometimes, as researchers, it’s easy to lose sight of the fact that our mission is to help those outside of the academic community make important decisions that can drastically impact their livelihoods,” said Daren Mueller, member of the CPN executive committee and plant pathologist at Iowa State University. “These research updates will provide critical information to growers so they can best be prepared to make a pest management decision, whether that be incorporating a new technique or switching to a new pesticide regiment.”
The first Research Updates published to CPN are “Pesticide Impact on White Mold and Soybean Yield,” and “Seed Treatment and Foliar Fungicide Impact on Sudden Death Syndrome and Soybean Yield.” Within these publications are summaries of pest distribution throughout the U.S., financial impacts and instances of resistance; current fungicide efficacy tables and efficacy of seed treatments; economic analysis of management techniques and further resources and tools that can be implemented into an operation. Future Research Updates will follow a similar format to best illustrate to farmers the most useful information. Additionally, CPN is also creating CCA exams that can be taken upon review of these publications, that can count towards continuing education units (CEUs). New publications of Research Updates will be announced by CPN as they are reviewed and completed.
The Crop Protection Network (CPN) is a multi-state and international partnership of university and provincial Extension specialists, and public and private professionals that provides unbiased, research-based information.