A North Central Region work group Grower Incentives for IPM
	Home >About EQIP >Success stories EQIP Success stories Michigan EQIP money helps growers fund useful practices, including IPM EQIP helps leave the land a better place Grower sees the savings in EQIP Grower strengthens nursery operations with EQIP Wisconsin Wisconsin apple grower significantly reduces pesticides through EQIP IPM is made possible in Wisconsin apple orchard through EQIP Wisconsin apple and cherry growers benefit from IPM incentives in EQIP   EQIP money helps growers fund useful practices, including IPM EQIP helps two growers in Michigan to fund numerous IPM practices including pest scouting, agrichemical containment facilities and weather stations. Environmental Quality Incentive Program (EQIP) has made a great difference in the way John and Brian Altonen and Todd Greiner farm.  This federally funded program (sponsored by the USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service) provides financial incentives and technical assistance for farmers to support environmental conservation. At Altonen Orchards near Elk Rapids, Michigan, John and Brian signed an EQIP contract to build three agrichemical containment facilities, one at each of their farm locations.  These containment facilities are permanent structures that provide a safe place to mix and store fertilizers, pesticides and other chemicals.  Visitors get a look at one of the new agrichemical containment facilities at Altonen Orchards. With help from EQIP, the Altonens began implementing pest management practices.  For example, pests require specific weather conditions to become active, and growers can predict outbreaks by tracking growing degree days (GDD) and wettingperiods to measure daily temperature and number of hours the leaves are damp.  Spraying only when pests reach a threatening level reduces the number of sprays and saves money.  Also used are mating disruptions, which release a species-specific pheromone that confuses the males during mating season.  This confusion decreases successful reproduction, in turn reducing the number of insects the following season.  Less pests means fewer spray applications and more financial savings.  In addition, the Altonens use two Smart Sprayers that can sense the presence and absence of foliage and turns spray nozzles on and off accordingly to target specific insects and diseases. At Todd Greiner’s farm near Hart, Michigan, Greiner also began implementing IPM practices such as monitoring insect traps, tracking conditions on the weather stations and scouting for pests and diseases in the field.  Scouting involves walking through the orchard looking on the leaves, fruits and ground for signs of pests.  This helps him spray only when there is a problem.  He also built an agrichemical containment facility to provide an environmentally safe place to handle chemicals. In both cases, their local NRCS staff played large roles in helping the growers qualify for EQIP and creating and implementing strategic improvement plans once the growers were accepted. To read the full article by Dick Lehnert about the successes these growers experienced, follow this link: http://ipm.msu.edu/farmbill/growers.htm back to top   EQIP helps leave the land a better place A Michigan fruit grower uses EQIP to implement IPM to protect natural resources and improve the farm’s economic performance. "Farming is in my blood. It's where I belong," says Paul Hubbell, a fruit grower in Grand Traverse County, Michigan. Hubbell grew up in farming and left for only a brief time before making it his career and is part of a 300-acre family operation that produces cherries and apples. To leave the land a better place for his children, as well as protect his business, Hubbell is involved in the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP). The program is a voluntary federal program administered by USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) that offers financial incentives for growers to use conservation practices on their land. Hubbell received EQIP funds to start an IPM scouting program several years ago and has continued with scouting even after the funding ended.  This crucial aspect of IPM involves a trained scout walking through his orchard, checking fruit, foliage and insect traps for pest problems.  No pests mean no spraying, and more dollars in Hubbell’s pocket. Hubbell comments that he "used to spray by the Fruit Calendar every seven days. Then someone mentioned how much money they saved by scouting, which is a key element to IPM. We thought we would give it a shot and right away we could see the benefit.  We can't live without scouting now because of its economical value.” Cherry growers experience success with the utilization of EQIP. He adds, “One important part of IPM is the weather. We use weather data to help us manage things like apple scab, leaf spot - basically all major insects and fungal diseases.”  Weather data can predict when insect and disease outbreaks might occur by tracking temperature and leaf wetness due to rain to.  This gives growers precise information on if or when to spray. "Being in the EQIP program has been a piece of cake for us. They give you recommendations and you go with it. There is nothing that would turn me away from it and my dad would say the same. We want to be a part of something that works so well," says Hubbell. "I want to leave my land a better place for my children, and these changes can help us achieve that." To read the full article by Rebecca Lamb about the benefits Paul Hubbell has experienced in the EQIP program, follow this link:http://ipm.msu.edu/farmbill/growers.htm back to top   Grower sees the savings in EQIP Dick Walsworth saves money and chemical use by implementing IPM on his vegetable and field crops, with the financial and technical help from EQIP. Dick Walsworth has taken advantage of the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) to adopt practices that reduce his pesticide use and improve the structures on his farm, while also saving money.  Walsworth applied for and received funds from EQIP in 1998 for scouting for two to three years."If you farm commercially, you have to use chemicals. But you have to be prudent. People think that we just spray whatever we want at whatever rate we want. But that's just not true. We would go broke if that were the case. I spray when there are pests that need to be controlled," comments Walsworth.  Scouting helps Walsworth make effective pest management decisions about when to spray and when not to.  He uses two scouts who split the acreage, look on the plants and the ground to spot signs of pest damage and report their findings back to Walsworth. After seeing their written reports for insects and diseases, Walsworth makes informed decisions about spraying that save him money and time. Scouting helps maintain control of pests in fields. For example, Walsworth keeps an eye on asparagus beetle (above) and sprays only when he needs to. Photo credit: Whitney Cranshaw, CSU, bugwood.org   In addition to scouting, Walsworth has received EQIP funds to help improve structures and storage areas. The conservation plan for his farm recommended a new chemical storage building that provides environmentally safe structures to mix, handle and store chemicals, as well as a fuel storage facility.  Cost sharing for the buildings was significant. Without programs like EQIP, most growers would not be able to justify the expense. To read the full article by Rebecca Lamb about the financial savings Dick Walsworth has experienced in the EQIP program, follow this link: http://ipm.msu.edu/farmbill/growers.htm back to top   Grower strengthens nursery operations with EQIP Evergreen and Christmas Mike Yancho implement IPM with help from EQIP, and is satisfied with the numerous improvements to his operation. Nursery grower Mike Yancho of Trim Pines Farm in Michigan realizes how his Christmas tree and evergreen production practices affect everyone around him.  For this reason, he became involved in the Environmental Quality Incentive Program (EQIP) over six years ago. EQIP funds have helped Yancho reduce pesticide use and improve conservation on his farm in many ways.  One of the recommended improvements to his farm was a nurse tank.  “We have been able to practice better integrated pest management (IPM) with the nurse tank and save money in the long run. We can fill the nurse tank up from the well and then take the water to the various sprayers, right where they are working. Also, when just a few newly planted trees are under drought stress, we just fill the tank with water and spot water the places with the most problems. This keeps us from using a full irrigation system and requires less manpower.” Other resources that district conservationist Jay Blair helped Yancho obtain are back flow preventers and a spill kit. The back flow preventer keeps pesticides from contaminating water while mixing pesticides. The spill kit is conveniently packaged for emergency use to soak up spilled pesticides.  Soil erosion and general environmental-friendliness has also been improved on Yancho’s farm. To read the full article by Rebecca Lamb about the improvements Mike Yancho has experienced in the EQIP program, follow this link: http://ipm.msu.edu/farmbill/growers.htm back to top   Wisconsin apple grower significantly reduces pesticides through EQIP By adopting EQIP’s pest management practice, this apple grower has been able to reduce his pesticide use by 30-50% annually. Numerous Dane County apple growers have been able to significantly reduce their pesticide use by participating in the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) - administered by the USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service.  Dick Green of Green’s Pleasant Springs Orchard participated in EQIP for three years, and continues to improve his practices ever since. Dick Green has used aspects of integrated pest management (IPM) for many years, even prior to participating in EQIP.  The cost and health benefits he sees from reducing pesticide sprays provide personal incentive for him to seek IPM methods.  Enrolling in EQIP in 2005 provided Green with the financial and technical assistance to enhance and expand his IPM practices. Green has cut his sprays for pests like codling moth by 30 to 50 percent. Photo credit: Whitney Cranshaw, CSU, bugwood.org A large portion of the EQIP money Green received was dedicated toward integrated pest management.  He acquired monitoring traps to determine insect pest density and degree of danger they posed, weather stations to monitor degree days and hours of wetness to decide whether disease sprays were necessary and deer fences and mouse guards to prevent damage from these four-legged pests.  Scouting for pests and diseases is a time-worthy task, as it identifies if there is a problem or if a spray is unnecessary. Strategic chemical application is also a part of the pest management practice, such as targeting only the perimeter trees or one side of a tree to protect the rest of the orchard from pests that migrate in from the outside. Green explains that codling moth was an early season pest that used to be a serious problem in his orchard.  “Three years ago I would have sprayed a number of times already.  But so far this year I’ve not had to spray anything at all.  We’ve just not had a problem with them,” he states.  Since he started using IPM, Green has reduced his sprays by 30-50% annually. Part of the EQIP funds also helped pay for a pest management consultant to work with and advise Green, and help track his progress through the three years Green participates in the program.  Although his contract expires this year, Green feels confident that the techniques and knowledge he’s gained through EQIP will help him continue and improve his IPM practices. back to top   IPM is made possible in Wisconsin apple orchard through EQIP Tom Griffith’s involvement with EQIP’s pest management incentive helps his apple orchard to be as sustainable as possible. Tom Griffith of Door Creek Orchard in Dane County has been growing 10 acres of apples since 1984.  He is one of the many apple growers in Wisconsin to adopt conservation practices, namely pest management, through participation in the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP), a program sponsored by the USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service. Since applying for and being accepted in EQIP in 2005, Griffith has received training and the funding to scout for pests, hang insect traps to monitor density of pests, set up weather stations to track degree days and wetness hours that help predict pests and disease problems and pay for a “coach” to help him improve his IPM practices.  Coaching is a good approach for smaller orchards which find it difficult to hire a crop consultant or scout for regular visits.   A coach might work with the grower to update the grower’s pest management plan annually, including reviewing results from the previous season and adjusting scouting and monitoring methods, thresholds and control options accordingly.  A coach might visit in person with the grower 3 - 4 times at key decision points during the season and be available for consultation by phone or email as needed. Apple growers in Wisconsin adopt conservation practices, such as pest management, through participation in the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP). Photo credit: Shane Bee http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/deed.en “Environmental sustainability is one of my main concerns here.  Pest management is an important approach to reducing our pesticide applications and ensuring the land will be healthy for generations to come,” comments Griffith. Griffith is also involved in a county-wide network that brings apple growers, crop consultants and university experts together three times each season, facilitating dialogue and helping everyone to learn from each other.  He has found these networks to be an invaluable tool for his pest management practices, as it allows for “sharing ideas with folks involved in growing fruit in Wisconsin.” Although Griffith’s EQIP funds expire this year, he fully intends to continue his IPM approach because of the benefits of the practices in saving input costs and reducing potential environmental impacts. back to top   Wisconsin apple and cherry growers benefit from IPM incentives in EQIP EQIP funding generates tremendous improvements to apple and cherry growers’ IPM practices in Wisconsin. Apple and cherry growers in Wisconsin have made great strides toward adopting integrated pest management (IPM), largely thanks to increased funding from the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP), administered by the USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service.  Specialty crops, like apples and cherries, greatly benefit from programs like EQIP because these crops require expert quality control and face intense pest and disease challenges that entail more capital and time input. Prior to adopting IPM, many growers averaged 27 assorted insecticide, fungicide or herbicide applications each season.  University of Wisconsin experts and a number of growers saw the need for technical assistance and incentives to reduce chemical use and began working with EQIP to help fund IPM projects in their orchards.  These IPM practices include baited pest traps, weather stations, deer fences, a leaf decomposition compound called calcium nitrate and more.  Applying calcium nitrate in the fall is a strategic approach to quickening the rate at which leaves decay.  This eliminates pests’ habitat and prevents them from living in the leaf litter during the winter.  Additionally, growers used part of their EQIP funds to hire IPM consultants who assisted, advised, and tracked the growers’ IPM practices. Since 2005, the NRCS helped provide 31 growers with the funds and assistance necessary to implement IPM in their orchards through EQIP.  These 31 growers manage 1,750 acres in Wisconsin, which makes up nearly 20% of the total orchard acreage in the state. To read the full article by Michelle Miller and Regina Hirsch about Wisconsin orchardists’ experience with EQIP, follow this link:http://www.cias.wisc.edu/pdf/progplanning.pdf back to top
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