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Our currently ongoing potato research project is focused around a USDA Specialty Crop Research Initiative (SCRI) funded grant that responds to a key crisis threatening potato production in the U.S. regarding insect management. The U.S. potato industry commonly uses neonicotinoid insecticides to target insect pests, but this group of pesticides is under scrutiny by food/nursery retailers and regulators. As the continued use of neonicotinoids is in jeopardy, the potato industry needs robust and enduring alternatives that are sustainable and address consumer concerns; these alternatives will need to rely on biological, ecological, and environmental information. Our project will develop and test such new strategies while also addressing social and economic impacts to facilitate the adoption of novel tactics. Most of our objectives are focused on short-term deliverables that respond to the U.S. potato industry’s current crisis. Our long-term goals are to continue the adoption of strategies developed in this proposal by the U.S. potato industry long into the future. To address these issues, we have put together a multidisciplinary team of researchers from Washington State University, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Colorado State University, Cornell University and the University of Main. The project lead is Dr. Zsofia Szendrei at Michigan State University.

Current team members in the MSU Vegetable Entomology lab include, Dr. Abigail Cohen (postdoc), Ray Rantz (grad student) and Tyler Reisig (technician).

Please visit our project website at the button below for more information.