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Pest Management scientists study new ways
of
 dealing with age-old problems: insect and weed pests. Insects studied
include grasshoppers, wheat stem sawfly, and sugar beet root maggot, while
weed targets include leafy spurge, knapweeds, salt cedar, hoary cress, and field
bindweed. Scientists in this unit combine talents in entomology,
ecology, pathology, and microbiology to develop biologically based
approaches to pest control.
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The Agricultural Systems Research Unit
looks to
 increase
productivity and economic viability of diverse, integrated dryland and
irrigated cropping systems in the Northern Great Plains by optimizing
use of natural resources and farming inputs that improve water and soil
quality while alleviating pest and disease problems. Scientists are also
developing biologically based techniques to combat plant diseases,
applying remote sensing techniques to measure crop nutrient status and
to map the extent of weed and disease problems, and refining irrigation
techniques with high water use efficiencies and low environmental
impacts. |
