IPM Innovation Lab’s Timeline of Major Events

1993

1993

Beginning in October, USAID awards the Integrated Pest Management Collaborative Research Support Program (IPM CRSP) to Virginia Tech for at least a five-year duration (Phase 1), with an option for renewal for an additional five years upon satisfactory performance. With the hopes of addressing global hunger through Integrated Pest Management technologies, IPM CRSP begins its mission to implement participatory, farmer-focused, innovative, interdisciplinary research, training, and information exchange programs in IPM for several countries across the globe.

1993

1993

SK DeDatta was named the first IPM CRSP Director and Principal Investigator. Kent Reid was named Assistant Director.

1994

Brhane Gebrekidan was named IPM CRSP Director.

1995

USAID/Ukraine awards an Associate Award for Pest and Pesticide Management Project to IPM CRSP for 4 years. Initially intended as a pesticide safety training program, SK DeDatta negotiated a research component that motivated both US and Ukrainian scientists to participate. Virginia Tech initiated development of the Ukrainian Crop Protection Association, which led to Ukraine’s first Law on Plant Protection in 1998.

1995

1995

Integrated Pest Management and Consultative Network for Sub-Saharan Africa (ICN) was launched as an USAID/Africa Bureau buy-in to the IPM CRSP to increase the flow of information about IPM in Africa.

1995

As a spin-off of IPM CRSP involvement, OIRED is charged with coordinating the West Africa Natural Resources Management Inter-CRSP to integrate USAID’s Collaborative Research Programs working in West Africa (1995-2003). Mike Bertelsen was named coordinator.

1996

1996

IPM CRSP resolved a crisis in the US $140 million Guatemalan snow pea industry. By completing a taxonomic survey of the snow pea agromyzid leafminer species, Liriomyza huidobrensis, IPM CRSP was able to determine that the species occurs in the United States. This resulted in APHIS removing the requirement for detention of imported Guatemalan snow peas.

1997

Gregory C. Luther is appointed Assistant Director for the IPM CRSP.

1998

USAID reviews IPM CRSP.

1999

1999

USAID/Mali asked the IPM CRSP to manage their Strengthening the Environmental Quality Laboratory (SEQL) Project of the Central Veterinary Laboratory (1999-2004). The SEQL Project supported the government of Mali in the development of residue analysis capabilities for pesticides.

1999

USAID awards Virginia Tech with a second phase of IPM CRSP.

2002

E.A. ‘Short’ Heinrichs is named IPM CRSP Director during a brief interlude with Keith M. Moore as acting Director after the departure of Brhane Gebrekidan and Greg Luther.

2003

A one-year extension with cost is awarded through September 29, 2004 to IPM CRSP while USAID prepares for a re-competition of the IPM CRSP.

2003

InterCRSP project ends.

2004

2004

USAID awards Virginia Tech with a third phase of IPM CRSP.

2005

Don Plucknett joins IPM CRSP as Interim Director.

2005

IPM CRSP collaborates with SANREM CRSP in hosting the International Biodiversity Conference at Virginia Tech’s regional center in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic.

2005

Globalizing Integrated Pest Management: A Participatory Research Process, edited by IPM CRSP collaborators George W. Norton, E.A. Heinrichs, Gregory C. Luther, and Michael E. Irwin, is published by Blackwell Publishing.

2005

2005

IPM IL is awarded an Associate Award for locust control in Senegal for $650,000 over three years.

2006

2006

Entomologist Muni Muniappan joins the Virginia Tech IPM CRSP team as Director.

2008

USAID arranges for a review of IPM CRSP and upon the positive findings of the review, funding is extended for another five years. During this phase, six regions and 17 countries are involved in IPM CRSP programs including the development of IPM packages for high-value vegetable crops and a focused emphasis on regionalization and globalization.

2008

2008

In August, IPM CRSP’s Muni Muniappan is the first to identify the exotic invasive papaya mealybug in India and Indonesia.

2008

Godfrey Asea, whose graduate education was funded by IPM IL, won the Maize Technology Development and Dissemination Award for his team’s achievements in producing improved maize varieties through linkages with the private sector.

2008

2008

Africa Food Security Initiative: IPM IL is awarded an Associate Award of $1,000,000 over three years in Uganda, Mali, and Senegal from EGAT.

2009

2009

The Women and Gender in International Development Program at Virginia Tech, directed by Maria Elisa Christie, leads a four-day gender workshop in Baguinéda, Mali, which draws 30 researchers, extensions agents, and representatives from West African institutions and allows for planning and conversation around resource management and control.

2009

The International IPM Symposium awards IPM CRSP the International Award of Excellence.

2009

USAID awards the Cooperative Agreement to IPM CRSP for its fourth phase.

2009

2009

IPM IL issues 11 sub-awards.

2009

The concept of IPM Packages, comprehensive packages detailing crop issues and management techniques, is introduced to IPM CRSP’s work.

2009

Biological Control of Tropical Weeds Using Anthropods, edited by IPM CRSP Director Muni Muniappan, is published by Cambridge University Press.

2009

2009

IPM IL is awarded the Mali Associate Award for $2,000,000 for Building Local Capacity in IPM Solutions.

2010

2010

IPM IL is awarded the Integrated Pest Management Technologies for Indonesia Associate Award from the Indonesia Mission for $900,000 for five years.

2011

In February, orchards in India become free of the papaya mealybug after Muniappan’s initial discovery. Agricultural economist George Norton states that this intervention represented savings of $524 million to $1.3 billion over five years.

2011

2011

A workshop on successful control of the papaya mealybug is conducted in India.

2011

An Associate Award from the Indonesia mission is awarded to IPM CRSP.

2011

2011

A Virus Diseases of Crops workshop is conducted in India.

2011

Amer Fayad joins IPM CRSP as Assistant Director.

2012

2012

The introduction of the South American tomato leaf miner, Tuta absoluta, into Senegal results in IPM CRSP tracking this pest, advising various countries in Africa and Asia about the seriousness of its invasion, offering appropriate management strategies, and beginning its integral role in tracking this pest for years.

2012

Godfrey Asea, whose graduate education was funded by IPM CRSP, is presented with the Best Maize Breeder Award in recognition of developing stress tolerant maize germplasm. NARO also recently recognized Asea individually as the organization’s Outstanding Scientist.

2012

An Associate Award from the Nepal mission is awarded to IPM CRSP.

2012

2012

A buy-in from the Bangladesh mission is initiated.

2012

Anthropod Pests of Horticultural Crops in Tropical Asia, written by IPM CRSP Director Muni Muniappan, is published by CABI.

2012

2012

IPM IL is awarded the Vegetable IPM Technology Transfer to Feed the Future Regions in Nepal Associate Award for $500,000 over three years.

2013

USAID changes the name “IPM CRSP” to the “Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Integrated Pest Management.”

2013

2013

A Tuta absoluta workshop for West and Central Africa is conducted in Dakar, Senegal.

2013

A Tuta absoluta workshop for East Africa and South Asia is conducted in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

2013

USAID conducts a review of IPM IL.

2014

2014

Virginia Tech is successful in securing an $18 million award from USAID to continue developing and implementing IPM for vegetables, fruit, and grain crops in seven countries in Asia and Africa for an additional five years.

2014

The Board for International Food and Agricultural Development (BIFAD) awards Scientific Excellence within a FtF Innovation Lab for Collaborative research to Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Integrated Pest Management.

2014

A meeting with missions in Ethiopia, Bangladesh, Kenya, Nepal, Cambodia, Vietnam, and Tanzania for input for preparation of IPM IL sub-awards takes place.

2014

RFAs are released and selection of sub-awards is made.

2014

IPM IL’s fourth phase closes.

2014

2014

The Nepal Associate Award closes.

2014

A virus workshop is conducted in Hyderabad, India.

2014

2014

IPM IL conducts a Biopesticides Workshop in Nepal.

2014

2014

IPM IL receives a buy-in of $200,000 for Technology Transfer of Vegetable IPM Technologies to Feed the Future Regions in Bangladesh over two years.

2015

2015

In December, IPM IL is given a gift of $5,000 by Haramaya Agricultural University to support the Parthenium project, where natural enemies are released to control the invasive weed in East Africa that destroys native crops, causes rashes on skin, and taints milk and meat when ingested by animals. The grant enhances field establishment of bioagents against Parthenium and strengthens collaborations that help suppress the weed.

2015

George Norton, Agricultural Economist, and a PI of an IPM CRSP project, is granted an International IPM Lifetime Achievement Award by the 8th International IPM Symposium.

2015

In August, IPM IL is awarded the International Plant Protection Award of Distinction by the International Association for the Plant Protection Sciences in Berlin.

2015

2015

With the devastating news that Nepal, one of IPM IL’s crucial locations of work, has been hit by a series of earthquakes, IPM IL sends seed to farmers for fast-growing vegetable crops and plastic sheeting to meet people’s need for shelter and that can later be used to set up greenhouses.

2015

In August, Amer Fayad, Associate Director and Africa Program Manager of IPM IL, receives a certificate honoring his service to the American Phytopathological Society in Pasadena, California.

2015

2015

Tuta absoluta awareness workshops are conducted in Nepal and Bangladesh.

2015

IPM IL establishes eight sub-awards.

2015

MOU signs with CIP for an Associate Award of $400,00 over two years for work in Bangladesh.

2016

2016

Edited by Director Muni Muniappan and IPM IL partner E.A. Heinrichs, the book Integrated Pest Management of Tropical Vegetable Crops, which compiles 42 different authors and documents 20 years of successful integrated pest management projects in tropical countries by the USAID-funded Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Integrated Pest Management, is published by Springer.

2016

IPM IL Publications from 1993-2016, compiled by Maria Elisa Vollmer N., is published.

2016

Tuta absoluta management workshops are conducted in Bangladesh. 

2016

IPM IL’s work monitoring and managing Tuta absoluta, a tomato leafminer devastating tomato crops in Europe, Africa, the Middle East, and Central and South Asia, is featured in The New York Times.

2017

2017

Laouali Amadou, a PhD student from Niger working with Muniappan and supported by a sub-award from the Sorghum and Millet Innovation Lab, is awarded by BIFAD Scientific Excellence of a student within a FtF Innovation Lab for Collaborative Research.

2017

IPM IL helps hold an emergency workshop in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on the fall armyworm, devastating to corn in Ethiopia, Tanzania, Kenya, and elsewhere, to slow the pest’s advance in Africa and prevent its penetration into Southern Europe and Asia.

2017

At the Institute of Electronic and Electrical Engineers conference, Abiijin Adiga’s team from the Biocomplexity Institute, after being funded by IPM IL, present one-of-a-kind modeling of the invasive species Tuta asboluta. The modeling quantifies how tomato shipments impact the pests’ spread in Nepal.

2017

2017

An Egypt buy-in for $50,000 is awarded for the Risk Assessment of the Fall Armyworm.

2017

A Fall Armyworm workshop is conducted in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

2017

2017

A grant of $50,000 from the Vice President for International Affairs, VT is awarded to IPM IL to conduct an Impact Assessment of Trichoderma and coconut pith use in India and Nepal.

2017

A Tuta absoluta awareness workshop is conducted in Cambodia.

2017

A buy-in of $50,000 is received from the Egypt mission for the IPM IL to conduct a Risk Assessment of the Fall Armyworm in Egypt.

2018

The Office for International Research, Education, and Development, which houses IPM IL at Virginia Tech, is re-launched as the Center for International Research, Education, and Development.

2018

2018

Webinars on Neem, Trichoderma, and Tuta absoluta are successfully conducted by the IPM IL.