Integrated Pest Managment

Environmental concerns require increased emphasis on IPM systems in our effort to control agricultural pests and diseases. Biological control is the cornerstone of the IPM program approach in controlling pests. The requested increase would enable us to accelerate development of new biological control technologies for soilborne diseases of wheat, grasshoppers, rangeland weeds, and selected insect pests. In addition, the increase requested for consolidating our European biological control research in a modern research facility in France will greatly increase the efficiency with which exotic parasites, predators, pathogens, and weed-feeding insects can be found, tested and shipped to the U.S. Pesticide Impact Assessment

The periodic evaluation of pesticides through the procedure known as RPAR (Rebuttable Presumption Against Registration) is accelerating, and requires an expansion of research needed to supply the data needed for sound decisions. The ..funds requested will permit the initiation of up to 20 additional studies each year and the establishment of 8 to 10 teams to gather the needed information. Germplasm Resources

This increase would support and strengthen critical elements of our current program on plant genetic resources. It would ensure an increased diversity of seed and clonal genetic material that would provide a more stable base for genetic improvement of plant productivity.

Tropical and Subtropical Research

A substantial portion of this requested increase will be used to support and strengthen existing programs at the Mayaguez Institute of Tropical Agriculture

in Puerto Rico and elsewhere in the Caribbean Basin.

Production research will

also be initiated to meet the specific needs of American Samoa, Micronesia, Guam, and the Northern Marianas in the Pacific Basin.

Applied Research on Animal Protection.

The enormous losses, plus the growth inefficiencies and treatment costs in animals that recover from illness, cost the consumer an estimated $12 billion annually. Intensive research will be initiated to solve animal health problems as recommended by many advisory groups including the Animal Health Science Research Advisory Board. The research will include development of improved methods to control respiratory and enteric diseases of cattle and swine; to control stable flies; and to control and eradicate slow viruses such as scrapie and chronic progressive pneumonia in sheep; to control respiratory disease of poultry; and to distinguish between the American and African forms of malignant catarrhal fever of cattle.

Aerospace Technology

This proposal would allow SEA-AR to increase its effort on the application of aerospace technology and remotely sensed data to improve existing hydrologic, sediment, and nonpoint pollution models for assessing conservation and clean water programs (the Resource Conservation Act and Rural Clean Water Program); develop new techniques to detect, quantify, and provide early detection of agroecosystem stress; develop new and improved existing crop growth and yield

models for use in production forecasting; develop methods to inventory and

-assess conservation practices and pollution effects; and develop methods to detect and monitor insect populations and movements.

Nonpoint Pollution

Ongoing research has led to the development of a mathematical model for predicting the runoff, erosion, and chemical transport from agricultural lands under various climatic and management practices. This research has been necessary for the successful development and implementation of the Resources Conservation Act and the Rural Clean Water Program to develop the ability to identify key sources of nonpoint sources of pollution and to apply economical management practices. This increase will be used to expand existing field scale models to watershed and basin scales. Increased basic research on the fate and transport of agricultural chemicals will provide data for developing a more reliable predictive capability for the movement of these materials on agricultural watersheds. Increased emphasis will also be placed on evaluating changes in water quality that occur during both overland and channel flow.

Soil Erosion/Productivity.

A prime objective of the Resource Conservation Act program is to reduce erosion to the tolerance level, or less, in cropland, range, and non-Federal forest land and pasture land. Establishing the tolerance level is difficult because of the limited research that has been devoted to the effect of erosion on soil productivity. The limited data available demonstrate that erosion can drastically reduce crop yields. This proposal would provide for increased

research effort to conduct nation wide field experiments to determine the effect of erosion on soil productivity; quantify the relation between erosion and crop yields; develop conservation tillage systems applicable to a wide range of crop residue and potential soil erodibility conditions; assess the economic benefits of conservation tillage systems and associated erosion control practices; and improve the accuracy and range of application of models for predicting water and wind erosion through the development of a sound theoretical understanding of the basic mechanics of erosion.

Support of Action Agencies.

This research targets critical needs identified by action agencies--APHIS, FSQS and FDA. Plant protection and quarantine programs of APHIS are the first line of defense against entry and spread of foreign plant and animal diseases and pests. Currently used fumigants for quarantine treatment are of limited value and the safety of their use is being questioned. New treatment methods are needed. Proposed funds will accelerate research on new methods for quarantine treatment and for modern-day scientific techniques to detect contraband. The research needs of FDA and FSQS will focus on protecting the nations food supply against fungal, microbial, and toxic constituents. Proposed funds would be used to intensify the efforts to develop rapid detection and assessment techniques to address the highest priority needs of FSQS and FDA.

Acid Precipitation.

The increase in acidity of precipitation during the past 10 years has been documented. As the Nation moves to a greater dependence on coal as an energy source, the acidity of precipitation is expected to increase still more. Sound

decisions on regulatory controls for emissions, and on agricultural approaches to ameliorate effects of acid precipitation will require a better understanding of the extent and nature of acid precipitation and its effect on biological systems. The proposed increase would be used to initiate a research effort to assess potential economic losses from the effects of acid precipitation on soils and plants and to achieve a better understanding of the basic processes

involved.

Soil Management Research in Alaska.

Alaska's ability to meet the challenges of expanded agricultural production in an environmentally and economically sound manner will depend, to a large extent, on how well the soil and water resources of the State are managed. This increased funding will be used to develop conservation tillage or other residue management; develop soil and water conservation practices to protect soils being brought into production; develop fertilizer and plant nutrient management systems that result in optimum fertilizer use efficiency; and develop soil and water management practices for the cold soil conditions in Alaska, that allow optimal production of crops and maintenance of soil fertility and tilth without increasing potential soil erosion problems.

Energy Retrofit of Facilities.

The 1982 budget would provide funds to energy retrofit our laboratories with long term, cost-effective, energy conservation measures. The program would consist of modification of assigned space that is not energy efficient.