Intense pest pressure severely affects profitability through direct losses due to insects and high control costs in many crops, but this is particularly true for high value horticultural crops which must meet high, often cosmetic, quality standards. Increasing incidences of pest resistance to pesticides, increasing regulatory restrictions on pesticide use, and the reluctance of pesticide companies to register new materials on crops offering a limited market potential are decreasing the availability of effective insecticides for fruit and vegetable crops. The implementation of IPM programs remains the most effective means of addressing many of these problems, and support of local, state, and regional IPM efforts must be a high priority. Research and extension goals have been and will continue to be directed towards the development, implementation and maintenance of IPM programs. At the present time, major emphasis is placed on management strategies for use in apples, blueberries, grapes, potatoes, tomatoes, and beekeeping, and there is a diversity of on-going research and extension programs to address those problems deemed most important.
High priority is placed on applied research to help solve problems of immediate concern.
Applied research is currently focused on insecticide resistance management, development of action and economic threshold levels, population monitoring and sampling, enhancement of natural enemies, orchard groundcover management , and the use of pheromones for mating disruption and pest population monitoring. As research findings provide new management options, information is disseminated to growers and implemented into on-going IPM programs. It is expected that most research and extension efforts will continue in their present direction in the near future. However, there will be a need for increased activity in the areas of insecticide resistance management on cole crops, epidemiology and management of tomato spotted wilt virus, development of alternative pest management strategies, and management of varroa and tracheal mites in honey bees. Also, Africanized bees are expected to enter North Carolina in the next few years and this will require significant attention.