Tractor pulling a cultivator

Research & Initiatives

We pioneer ecologically resilient, economically viable, pest management practices for New York.

Research and Initiatives

Building stronger, safer farms and communities

Through innovative technology and hands-in-the-dirt research, we’re pioneering ecologically resilient pest management practices that lead to safer, more sustainable strategies for managing pests where New Yorkers live, study, work and play.

Key 2023 Accomplishments

Agricultural IPM

  • Expanded the collective reach and expertise of both the New York State Integrated Pest Management Program (NYSIPM) and Cornell Cooperative Extension’s Pesticide Safety Education Program (PSEP) by making PSEP a program of NYSIPM.
  • Lead statewide efforts to explore safer and more sustainable alternatives to neonicotinoid insecticides in agronomic and specialty crops, connected with 700 growers, farmers and ag professionals at seven crop congress events and developed a dedicated website to highlight these efforts and educate farmers, growers and consumers. 
  • Conducted 15 research trials in eight locations across New York to test alternative seed treatments for controlling seedcorn maggot.
  • Developed and facilitated a six-week, online Greenhouse Scout School and webinar series to train growers and students on efficient and effect scouting methods for greenhouse insect pests, diseases, abiotic issues and biological controls. 
  • Engaged with New York State cut flower producers through a host of course offerings and presentations statewide, contributing to a 1.5 times wholesale value increase in cut flowers.
  • Published biopesticide profiles on the NYSIPM website to guide growers in the proper use, mode of action, compatibility, storage conditions, and shelf life for commonly used biopesticides.
  • Continued our work to protect pollinators and other beneficial insects by hosting a beneficial habitat open house, which brought more than 100 people to Cornell AgriTech and thousands to the NYSIPM website. 
  • Contributed to global food security and regenerative agricultural efforts for global companies like McCain Foods, Syngenta, Agrohub and more through the expanded use and improvement of our Environmental Impact Quotient
  • Hosted an online Spotted Lanternfly Summit and in-person Spotted Lanternfly Workshop, which brought together nearly 800 nationally recognized researchers and regulatory officials from across the United States and Canada.
  • Joined efforts to reduce the spread of invasive box tree moth through a comprehensive social media campaign which reached more than 20,000 people.
  • Collaborated to host the first Bilingual Fruit IPM School, which brought together farm employees and growers to learn about pests in apple orchards, pesticide safety, soil health, pollinators and farm leadership.
  • Hired a Fruit IPM coordinator and created and recruited for a program economist and grape IPM specialist.

Community IPM

  • Joined the New York State Department of Health’s efforts to conduct regional New York State School Environmental Health Program seminars, guiding 375 participants through mock integrated pest management inspections and providing nearly 300 participants with information on school IPM, with an emphasis on bed bugs.
  • Provided New Yorkers with guidance and resources to protect against tick bites and tick-borne diseases through the Don’t Get Ticked NY campaign. Presentations in English and Spanish reached nearly 800 people, including 300 farm employees and 360 state employees.
  • Connected with more than 110,000 people through digital efforts related to Our Land, Our Water, a campaign designed to encourage Long Islanders to consider IPM alternatives to lawn and landscape pesticides and to choose sustainable practices that protect the environment. 
  • Spent more than 5200 hours presenting, leading workshops and educating New Yorkers at tabled events on rodents, invasive species, sustainable lawn care, flies, toxic plants, ticks and other pest issues. Programs were offered both in English and Spanish.
  • Held our first in-person annual conference since the coronavirus pandemic. “Sustainable Landscapes” was attended by more than 100 participants who learned strategies for creating environmentally friendly outdoor spaces.
  • Reached more than 150,000 New Yorkers through a social media campaign dedicated to spreading awareness, dispelling myths and increasing reporting of invasive spotted lanternfly.
  • Continued efforts to provide practical solutions to common pest problems through the What’s Bugging You? First Friday webinar series. Nearly 1500 people registered for programs in English and Spanish and recorded sessions of monthly programs generated more than 16,800 views on our YouTube channel.
  • Hired a Western New York Community IPM Specialist to lead extension, outreach and education efforts devoted to Community and Urban Agriculture efforts in Western New York and the Finger Lakes.
  • Facilitated the Municipal Rodent IPM Working Group, which developed a white paper about rodent management in municipalities, completed a comprehensive roadmap for municipal rodent management that provides a vision, objectives and approaches for successfully controlling rodents, and generated Municipal Rat IPM Priorities for research and outreach efforts.

Pesticide Safety Education Program

  • Expanded the collective reach and expertise of both the New York State Integrated Pest Management Program (NYSIPM) and Cornell Cooperative Extension’s Pesticide Safety Education Program (PSEP) by making PSEP a program of NYSIPM.
  • Applicators completed 1130 CCE-PSEP online recertification courses for NYS credits.
  • Provided recertification credits to more than 400 pesticide applicators responsible for managing pests in rights-of-way, structures and food establishments.
  • Presented live recertification training to more than 1000 applicators on topics including: label comprehension, herbicide safety, pesticide safety for workers and their families, container disposal/handling, pesticide risk/hazard and mixing pesticides properly.
  • Developed presentation a program for Spanish-speaking audiences, “Seguridad con Pesticidas para Protegar su Salud y la de su Familia,” (Pesticide Safety to Protect You and Your Family), which was presented in conjunction with the Cornell Bilingual Fruit IPM School and attended by 90 participants from the region.
  • Reached more than 600 NYS residents, including Master Gardeners, university students, IPM practitioners, regulators, industry and researchers through pesticide safety presentations.
  • Led a national pesticide applicator training manual development workshop for colleagues from pesticide regulatory and safety education programs from 23 states, territories and tribes.
  • Created the new fact sheet, “Who Can Apply Pesticides in Schools?”
  • Responded to more than 80 inquiries on topics, including legal pesticide options, pesticide label interpretations, pesticide applicator certification/recertification requirements, proper pesticide use, pesticide risks and pesticide registration status,
    Promoted legal and proper pesticide practices in and around NYS school through presentations to school personnel and active participation on the New York State Department of Health’s School Environmental Health Program Steering Committee.
    Connected with 900 people nationwide through presentations on why and how the EPA’s risk assessment process shows that glyphosate use meets the standard of not causing unreasonable adverse effects to human health and the environment when used according to label directions.
    Conducted a workshop focusing on exclusion and sanitation practices to help food facilities control pests that spread foodborne pathogens, protecting cultural heritage in museums and libraries from pest damage, and challenges and solutions in managing bed bugs in multifamily housing.
    Reviewed and published the 2023 Cornell Crop and Pest Management Guidelines series.
    Co-chaired a committee of the American Association of Pesticide Safety Educators to explore the logistics of states certifying applicators for whom English is a second language, even though pesticide label directions are only provided in English.

Key 2022 Accomplishements

Alternatives to neonicotinoids

Initiated eight projects designed to reduce dependence and develop, environmentally and economically viable alternatives to neonicotinoid use in the management of seedcorn maggot and striped cucumber beetle in field and specialty crops.

Agricultural IPM

Dichlorvos Working Group

Organized and held the first meeting of the Dichlorvos Working Group that seeks to address the misuse of dichlorvos (an organophosphate) “pest strips” in public areas, especially restaurants and bars

Community IPM Program

Asian longhorned tick surveillance

Participated in the surveillance for Asian longhorned ticks in the Capital and Hudson Valley regions, confirming the tick on livestock for the first time in New York and on pigs for the first time in the United States. As a result, NYSIPM staff members traveled to farmer’s markets in Albany, Columbia and Rensselaer counties to share information about these invasive ticks with farmers and growers

Community IPM Program

Hands-on tomato pest identification

Partnered with Central New York farm owners to introduce integrated pest management concepts and hands-on identification of insect and disease pests to tomato growers, reducing response times, improving crop yield and minimizing economic loss

Agricultural IPM

Long Island Pesticide Pollution Prevention Project

Oversaw the Long Island Pesticide Pollution Prevention Project, an outreach campaign designed to encourage Long Islanders to use yard, lawn and landscape management strategies that minimize risks to water sources and the environment. To-date, the campaign has included more than 30 social media posts, reaching more than 70,000 people, a website, blog posts and in-person outreach

Community IPM Program

Municipal Rodent IPM Working Group

Organized and continue to facilitate a national Municipal Rodent IPM Working Group of more than 60 stakeholders, currently working to identify best management practices and developing a guide for urban rodent management for stakeholders

Community IPM Program

Pocket Guide to Beneficial Insects on NYC Farms

Collaborated with Harvest New York to publish a “Pocket Guide to Beneficial Insects on NYC Farms,” and distributed more than 100 copies to help urban growers and gardeners recognize pollinators and natural enemies

Agricultural IPM

Ticks and tick-borne diseases

Shared information and resources on ticks and tick-borne diseases with more than 5,000 New Yorkers, including more than 600 middle school students, in conjunction with the Don’t Get Ticked, NY awareness campaign

Community IPM Program

Virtual trainings on basic IPM strategies

Continued online efforts to provide virtual trainings on basic IPM strategies through What’s Bugging You? First Friday events. Introduced in 2021, What’s Bugging You? events and YouTube recordings of the programs have reached more than 4,000 people

Community IPM Program

Hands-On Structural Pest Identification Workshops

Offered three sessions of the highly sought after, Hands-On Structural Pest Identification Workshop sessions to pest management professionals and Master Gardener volunteers.

Community IPM Program

School pest exclusion outreach

Presented a talk on school pest exclusion and provided outreach materials and resources to school officials during the New York State School Environmental Health Conference

Community IPM Program

Community pest advice

Provided IPM advice on bed bugs, mosquitoes, ticks, cockroaches, rodents, and ants to school officials, nurses, pest professionals, landscape managers and the public

Community IPM Program

Pest prediction and forecast tools

Provided nearly 3,200 growers with pest prediction and forecast tools through the Network for Environment and Weather Applications (NEWA) platform. NEWA generated 14,484 unique visits, 37,927 page views and 246 digital contact hours during 2022, and launched models to predict spotted lanternfly and conifer pests

Agricultural IPM

Spotted lanternfly

Worked in conjunction with the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets to coordinate statewide outreach on spotted lanternfly, developing an interactive SLF distribution map, participating in interviews with more than 50 state, local and national media outlets and reaching more than 105,000 people through social media platform.

Weed control

Demonstrated the ways New York farmers can improve weed control by adjusting their management practices based on the timing of specific weed species in the study, “Improving Weed Management Based on the Timing of Emergence Peaks: A Case Study of Problematic Weeds in Northeast USA

Spanish language pest identification training

Conducted five workshops for Spanish speaking farmworkers designed to introduce basic IPM concepts and hands-on pest identification. More than 600 Spanish speaking workers were reached

Hemp

Developed the Hemp Production and Management Profile for New York State, which serves as a strategic plan for pest management in hemp production

Pesticide risk reduction

Minimized the environmental, economic and health risks associated with pesticide use through our Environmental Impact Quotient