AEDE Assistant Professor Steven S. Vickner, along with his OSU colleagues Parwinder Grewal, Professor of Entomology and Director of the OSU Urban Landscape Ecology Program, Gary Gao, Associate Professor at the Ohio State University Extension County Operations and Small Fruit Specialist, and Heping Zhu, Adjunct Professor in the Department of Food, Agricultural and Biological Engineering, were recently awarded a $199,787 grant from the USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) for a project proposal focused on the sustainable management of grape root borer in commercial vineyards. This grant, which was awarded as part of NIFA’s Special Research Grants Program focused on Pest Management Alternatives, will enable the researchers to test a dynamic optimization model that will be used to assess the net economic benefits of a new, pesticide-free technology to eliminate grape root borers in Ohio vineyards.
NIFA awards the Pest Management Alternatives grants yearly to provide support for the development and implementation of integrated pest management practices, tactics and systems that aim to reduce human and environmental risks. In total, for fiscal year 2012, $1.4 million in grant funds were competed for amongst researchers. Typically, six to eight projects are funded each fiscal year at $100,000 to $200,000 per award, making the Ohio State award one of the largest given out in 2012. Funded projects are expected to be completed in two years.
We’ll post project updates on the AEDE website as the grant work commences – stay tuned for future news related to this research work. Congratulations to Dr. Vickner and his colleagues!
August 23, 2012