The Prairie Pest Monitoring Network (PPMN) has launched a new website.
The PPMN is a Prairie-wide insect pest monitoring group that provides valuable information, predicts insect risks, monitors insect populations and offers information to growers and agronomists to help them scout for pests, time their scouting activities and to make decisions about using chemical controls.
“We are really excited to be launching this new website,” said Meghan Vankosky, a research scientist in the field crop entomology department with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) and co-chair of the PPMN.
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“The goal of the network has always been to provide important and timely information to growers and agronomists. This new website helps us to improve communication and engagement with the industry.”
The PPMN was developed 24 years ago after insect researchers at western Canadian universities, provincial agriculture departments and Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada identified the need for a more co-ordinated approach in monitoring insect populations and conducting entomological research.
“The new site expands the functionality of the previous PPMN blog,” says Jennifer Otani, pest management biologist with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) and the other co-chair of the PPMN. “The new site design allows users to quickly and easily navigate the site to find the information they need.”
The PPMN also provides free weekly updates via email during the growing season. The updates alert subscribers to risks of major pests, offer tips on scouting methods and provide information on when in-field scouting activities should be conducted. Producers and agronomists across Western Canada have found this local, scientific information critical in making informed crop production decisions.
To view the new site and to sign up for weekly updates, visit prairiepest.ca.
![“[Flea beetle] seem to overwinter well under our Prairie conditions and we don’t have the natural enemies that seem to knock a population out, the way it does to other insects.” – John Gavloski.](https://static.manitobacooperator.ca/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/09102252/Flea-beetles_Brent-Schram_cmyk-165x165.jpeg)
