English (United Kingdom)

https://curated-unify.zendy.io/wp-json/zendy-region/v1/featured_content/oa?rat=en

https://curated-unify.zendy.io/wp-json/zendy-region/v1/highlighted_journal/

Global: Zendy Plus annual

Presents the access of premium content as premium feature

Premium Content

Presents the keyphrase highlighting as premium feature

Keyphrase Highlighting

Presents the summarisation as premium feature

Summarisation

Insights

Presents the pdf analysis as premium feature

PDF Analysis

Presents the zaia usage as premium feature

ZAIA

Global: Zendy Tools annual

Global: Zendy Free Plan

Global: Zendy Tools monthly

Global: Zendy Plus monthly

Certified Crop Advisers (CCAs) in Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, and Ohio were surveyed to determine the usefulness of the Soybean Rust Pest Information Platform for Extension and Education (PIPE) public website (sbr.ipmpipe.org). Their responses were collected using a webbased survey instrument. A total of 361 CCAs of 3,051 contacted (12%) responded to the survey. In addition to being asked to evaluate the Soybean Rust PIPE public website, the CCAs were asked about the value of the sentinel plot network used to monitor the spread of soybean rust in the United States. The majority (> 90%) of the CCAs indicated that they value the Soybean Rust PIPE public website and sentinel plot network, and that they felt somewhat to very confident in the sentinel plot network. Introduction Soybean rust, caused by Phakopsora pachyrhizi, first was confirmed in the continental United States in Louisiana in November 2004 (13). Additional confirmations occurred in Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, Missouri, South Carolina, and Tennessee in November and December 2004, making a total of nine states with soybean rust in the continental United States (12). Since the arrival of soybean rust in the United States, land-grant universities, federal agencies, regional IPM centers, and soybean checkoff boards have partnered to develop and support a framework for monitoring disease spread through soybean sentinel plots and mobile scouting, and a public website to document where soybean rust had been confirmed in North America (Fig. 1) (4). The main website is known as the Integrated Pest Management – Pest Information Platform for Extension and Education (IPM-PIPE) (5). The IPM-PIPE is a multi-crop, multi-pest web-based platform, and the Soybean Rust PIPE is one of six unique components. In addition to providing a map of soybean rust observations, the Soybean Rust PIPE provides information on identification, management, record keeping, and risk of soybean rust. 1 July 2010 Plant Health Progress Commentaries written by state specialists also are available on the website, and individuals can subscribe to a soybean rust alert service that will send an email when soybean rust is confirmed in new counties of states. Fig. 1. Screen capture of the front page of the Soybean Rust PIPE public website with the soybean rust observation map from 20 October 2008. One of the purposes of the Soybean Rust PIPE is to provide timely reports for soybean growers, crop consultants, Extension educators, and industry personnel that will help them make decisions if a foliar fungicide application is needed to protect fields against soybean rust. The United States Department of Agriculture’s Economic Research Service (USDA-ERS) indicated that the information provided by the Soybean Rust PIPE increased soybean producers’ profits up to $299 million in 2005, primarily by providing information that indicated fungicide applications were not needed for control of soybean rust in that year (11). The objective of this study was to evaluate the value and usefulness of the Soybean Rust PIPE public website to Certified Crop Advisers (CCAs) through a web-based survey. The CCA program is a professional certification program offered by the American Society of Agronomy (Madison, WI). More than 13,000 CCAs in the United States and Canada assist growers in 1 July 2010 Plant Health Progress making appropriate crop production decisions, including fungicide-use decisions. Web-based Survey Email addresses of CCAs in Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, and Ohio were obtained from the International CCA Program (American Society of Agronomy, Madison, WI). Email letters were sent to ask CCAs during the summer of 2008 to go online to access a web-based survey. Survey questions were nominated and selected by the authors of this paper. Selected questions were edited and the web-based survey was developed by the University of Missouri Institute for Human Development (Kansas City, MO). In general, this survey asked questions to gain information about the respondents, their opinions of the Soybean Rust PIPE public website, and their preferences on soybean rust information source and delivery. The survey was made available from 15 May to 15 September 2008. Respondent Information A total of 361 CCAs of 3,051 contacted (12%) responded to the survey. The number of CCAs by state and the percentage of the total number of CCAs within each state are reported in Table 1. The overall 12% response rate to this survey was lower than the response rates associated with previous surveys to CCAs and crop consultants. Norsworthy et al. (8,9) reported a response rate of 20% and 22% with surveys sent to CCAs and crop consultants in Arkansas, and Wright et al. (16) reported a response rate of 52% from a survey sent to crop consultants in twelve Midwestern states. The response rate associated with our survey does fit within the range of response rates observed previously in farmer surveys. Aref and Pike (1) observed a 7% response rate on a survey of Midwestern farmers, and Czapar et al. (3) observed a 27% response rate on a survey of Central Illinois farmers. Table 1. Number of CCAs that responded to a survey about the Soybean Rust PIPE. x For each state, the % of total represents the percentage of CCAs that responded in each state out of the total number of CCAs within that state. The respondents’ employment roles were divided nearly equally among those working as private consultants (31.3%), those employed by a private seed and/or agricultural chemical company (31.9%), and those employed by a fertilizer and/or agricultural chemical distributor (36.8%). The number of years each respondent had been in their current position varied, but 57% had worked 11 or more years (Table 2). In the survey, CCAs were asked to indicate the number of soybean acres they scouted each year or the number of soybean acres in the territory for which they were responsible. Respondents reported that they were responsible for scouting a total of 4,295,544 acres of soybean, with a mean and median of 26,034 and 6,000 acres, respectively. A total of 95,808,874 acres of soybean was located in the respondents’ territories with a mean and median of 437,483 and 30,000 acres, respectively. The total number of soybean acres State No. of respondents (% of total)x

Evaluation of the Soybean Rust Pest Information Platform for Extension and Education (PIPE) Public Website's Impact on Certified Crop Advisers