Making the right decisions on managing pests and diseases in an orchard depends on several factors, including the weather, the time of year and even the type of pest you’re dealing with. And the changing climate in the Okanagan region has broad implications for agricultural pest control.
A recently initiated project that incorporates a pest management decision support tool developed by Washington State University, called the Decision Aid System (DAS), will provide fruit tree growers with a new resource to aid in improving orchard management.
The DAS is unique because it ties in the life-cycles of agricultural pests and diseases with real-time weather data along with pest and disease management recommendations.
The tool was developed to help growers with their time-sensitive decisions around managing pests and diseases for their orchards,” said Melissa Tesche, Acting General Manager of the Okanagan-Kootenay Sterile Insect Release Program, the organization that is administering DAS in the Okanagan, according to CBC News Canada.
The DAS website is amazing, especially when it goes into detail concerning the different databases incorporated into the system. The platform includes WSU-AgWeatherNet data, forecasts from NOAA’s National Digital Forecast Database, and other information sources such as WSU’s Crop Protection Guide and Orchard Pest Management Online, and more.
With the Okanagan growers participating in the project, they will have a clear, simple on-line interface that provides information linking weather conditions with pest life-cycles and treatment information and alerts. The BC orchardist project is programmed for conventional and organic management recommendations.
The DAS is currently being adapted for growers in BC and the Beta version will be tested during the 2017 growing season. If everything goes well, and there is no reason why it shouldn’t, it will be fully implemented the following year. Funding for the project is out of the $300,000 Okanagan Regional Adaptation Strategy funded by the federal and provincial governments.
For those readers who may not know about Okanagan, B.C., let’s just say the tree fruit industry in B..C. is huge. Blessed with rich, fertile soil, over 800 growers operate orchards that generate $130 million in revenue, and contribute about $900 million in economic activity. This isn’t even counting the spin-off industries, like transportation, food processing and retailers that rely on the growers.
