City of Grande Prairie Youth Career Discovery Expo

The IPM Program participated in the 2024 Youth Career Discovery Expo in Grande Prairie AB today! Our program helped promote our field entomology research program while also describing how High School, Post-Secondary, or even Graduate students can apply to work for the Federal Student Work Employment Program (FSWEP). We talked about the Beaverlodge Research Farm which is part of the network of Agriculture and Agri-Food Research and Development Centres spread across Canada and the types of research that takes place at our Farm. 

The day-long event drew at least 2000 students from across the region! We were pleased to showcase a small portion of our insect voucher specimens (Figs. 1-2 and 4-7) using an interactive "Insect Scavenger Hunt" created by our two technicians, Amanda and Shelby!  Keen visitors were challenged to find three different insects amongst the pinned voucher specimens we brought along to view. Winners earned their very own ground beetle to take home (Figs. 3 and 8)!  We were one of the few agricultural careers to be included in this special event!

Many thanks to our program's two excellent technicians, Amanda and Shelby, and to the City of Grande Prairie for hosting this important event!  Amanda, Shelby, and Jennifer spoke with 200-some students who stopped by to talk! The most exciting part of the day was that 60 carefully curated ground beetle specimens were adopted to good homes with students who left us feeling pretty excited about Entomology! 

Here's a few photos of the day-long event at our booth! 

Figure 1. Booth, including our interactive insect scavenger hunt, is ready to go!

Figure 2. Our booth at the Youth Discovery Expo is ready to go and here's our first visitor of the day!

Figure 3. Our ground beetle "prizes" are ready and waiting to be won by visitors taking on our interactive insect scavenger hunt!

Figure 4. Standing room only by 10 am - great interest from our student visitors and some super entomological identification skills at work!

Figure 5. Shelby talking insects with students while they completed the insect scavenger hunt.

Figure 6. Amanda describing insect characteristics for the pinned voucher specimens.

Figure 7. More student visitors to our booth - we had really great interest and excellent questions!

Figure 8. We brought 70 "prize" ground beetles and, by the end of the day, 60-some were adopted to good homes by our enthusiastic student visitors!

#Entomology #Agriculture #WiSTEM #WestCdnAg #CareerOpportunities #PeaceRiverRegion #AAFC #IPM #FieldHeroes #NaturalEnemies

End of Summer Goodbyes

 

I always find my way back to the Beaverlodge Insect Pest Management (IPM) lab with four summers and one winter under my belt. It is bittersweet to have this summer conclude so fast after working consecutively in the IPM lab for close to a year and a half, but I will be returning to school in the fall to pursue a second degree in sustainable agriculture. I keep coming back because I enjoy the mix of field and lab work. Every year, there is always something new for me to learn and challenge myself with. As a bonus, the IPM staff are also wonderful people to work with, which makes the time fly!

Figure 1. Sweeping the BC Peace on a sunny day makes for the best day!

As always, our annual canola survey was one of my favourite memories from this summer this year. The week was filled with beautiful weather and fieldwork everyday, completing grasshopper density assessment counts, canola and grasshopper sweeps, and stubble assessments at multiple canola sites throughout the Peace River region. A special thanks to all of the farmers who allowed us to monitor their fields which allowed us to have a successful survey.

During canola survey, I enjoyed picking up a fresh (delicious) cinnamon bun from Eaglesham as well as a lunch break in Valhalla! The food stops make for a good day of surveying. This summer I volunteered to make us team t-shirts for the canola survey (maybe regretfully at t-shirt 3/8). Thanks to Shelby’s amazingly creative mind in coming up with a logo we were able to make what I would argue, are some pretty styling t-shirts. Our pin-flag pink shirts worked great for spotting and identifying us in the canola fields! Visibility keeps us safe while we are out conducting fieldwork.

Figure 2. Our IPM team this year, sporting our safety-pink Hulk lygus shirts. The shirt says, “you’re not going to lygus when were angry,” and a lygus insect depicted holding a sweep net.

I also enjoyed completing weekly canola monitoring for our Prairie Pest Monitoring Network. I always love watching how quickly the canola starts to grow once it bolts and being able to follow the same fields over the whole growing season. Following the same fields allows us to see different fluctuations in insect populations and biodiversity over each week and between geographic areas.

Figure 3. Completing our weekly PPMN canola monitoring; collecting a yellow flea beetle sticky card.

It was interesting to participate and assist in building data for the 2023 Living Lab AB-Beef project as well. I have been lucky enough to work with my father and our family farm in retrieving precision agriculture data for this project. It was a good challenge (and treasure hunt) for me to figure out how to compile 10 years of data into an accessible format, as well as educate myself more on precision agriculture and its ever-changing goals. I am excited to see how it develop over the next 5 years and the outputs farmers will receive.

Figure 4.  An alfalfa looper on a budding canola plant near Valhalla Centre during our 2023 Canola Survey.

I am always and forever grateful for the opportunities and growth I have had at the IPM lab in Beaverlodge. As someone told me years ago: you can't come back if you never leave! 'Till next time!

Author: Aarika Harpe

End of summer goodbyes

Well! I guess it’s time to say goodbye, this summer sure did fly by!

My name is Madysen Jones and once my work term ends, I will be heading back to Edmonton to finish up my studies at the University of Alberta. I am currently studying psychology in a Bachelor of Arts program.

This was my second summer working with the Integrated Pest Management (IPM) program. Over the last 4 months, I worked mostly with the Prairie Pest Monitoring Network project. This included setting out traps for diamondback moth, flea beetle, bertha armyworm, and swede midge along the field edges at commercial canola fields. We collected and redeployed our traps weekly, bringing samples back to the lab to process and identify. Once processed, the data is entered and utilized to help growers make important decisions about their fields.

Figure 1. One of our 2023 PPMN traplines featuring a diamondback moth trap along the edge of a commercial canola field. Photo credit: Maddy Jones AAFC-Beaverlodge.

Additionally, I was able to help with our new 2023 Living Labs AB-Beef project. For this project, we installed greenhouse gas chambers into the soil and collecting greenhouse gas samples weekly. Periodically, we changed out PRS® probes and take soil samples to compare with greenhouse gas readings. I enjoyed learning about this new project and am excited to see how it progresses over the next few years!

Figure 2. Maddy Jones and Gareth Larsen installing a greenhouse gas chamber for the 2023 Living Labs AB-Beef project. Photo credit: Aarika Harpe AAFC-Beaverlodge. 

Figure 3. Maddy Jones collecting a gas sample while technician Amanda Jorgensen labels and prepares the vials for the 2023 Living Labs AB-Beef project. Photo credit: Shelby Dufton AAFC-Beaverlodge.

When I am not working out in the field or processing samples from our 2023 Prairie Pest monitoring or 2023 Living Lab AB-Beef you can find me in the lab creating labels for carabid beetle voucher (also called ground beetles) collected between 2002 and 2023 for multiple projects. These specimens were identified by one of our technicians, Shelby Dufton, and help give us important information about how the biodiversity and activity-density of this important group of natural enemies has changed over the last 20 years in the Peace River region.

Figure 4: Carabid beetle vouchers. Photo credit: Maddy Jones AAFC-Beaverlodge.

My favourite part of every summer working with IPM is always the fieldwork. Our annual canola survey is a time where we get to do a lot of fieldwork, we spend a week or more traveling around the Peace River region collecting sweep-net samples to monitor for insects such as Lygus and the cabbage seed pod weevil. This summer our canola survey looked a little different than previous years, we required permission to enter prior to monitoring, but that did not stop us from completing another successful survey.

Figure 5: Maddy Jones sweeping a field near Girouxville during the 2023 Canola Survey. Photo credit: Aarika Harpe AAFC-Beaverlodge.

I enjoyed working with IPM for another summer and will take all that I have learned back with me to University in Edmonton. This position has inspired me to take my first entomology course and I am excited to continue to grow my knowledge of insects! Wish me luck! 

Author: Madysen Jones

End of Summer Goodbyes

 Hi! My name is Jadeyn, and I am a fourth year undergraduate student at The King’s University, majoring in Chemistry. As autumn approaches I am preparing to leave the Integrated Pest Management (IPM) program at the Beaverlodge Research Farm to return to my studies. 

Over the summer I have gained a broad range of knowledge and skills I can apply to my studies, future career, and agricultural understanding of the region I grew up in. Working in a lab environment and contributing to scientific projects has been a remarkable opportunity. I am excited to exercise in my schooling what I have learned about research, laboratory management, field work and data organization.

Figure 1. Processing flea beetle and diamondback moth sticky cards collected at commercial sites throughout the Peace River region as part of the 2023 Prairie Pest Monitoring project. 

 A highlight of my work experience was performing weekly field work and monitoring for insect pests in local canola fields for the Prairie Pest Monitoring Network. We collected flea beetle, diamondback moth, swede midge, and bertha armyworm traps at various sites, processed our findings, and recorded data. We also collected sweep-net samples in the field (biodiversity) and the ditch (grasshoppers). Sunny days spent collecting traps and sweep-net samples was a highly anticipated work day!

Figure 2a. A canola field monitored during the 2023 Annual Peace Canola Survey in Fort Vermillion, AB. b. A canola sweep-net sample being processed and organized into different taxonomic groups. 

Another highlight of my experience working in the Beaverlodge IPM lab was participating in the 2023 Annual Peace Canola Survey! Canola fields all across the northern Peace Region were monitored for Lygus beetles and cabbage seed pod weevils. We additionally surveyed grasshopper populations in ditches adjacent to these fields. I was able to travel to Fort Vermillion and collect samples from Northern Alberta. Between driving and collecting survey samples, I rode the La Crete ferry for the first time and got delicious strawberry butter horns at a La Crete bakery. After surveying, the IPM team returned to the lab to process the sweep-net samples. Samples were organized into petri dishes and identified to species to assess biodiversity and Lygus populations. 

My favourite aspect of working in the IPM lab is the variety of work. I got to try and learn new things I’ve never done before. The contrast of working outdoors, doing field work, and working indoors; processing samples and operating excel in the lab, offered diversity that kept my daily tasks engaging.

 Overall my student summer work experience was very positive, with interesting content, and welcoming staff. I am extremely grateful to have gained a new appreciation for entomology in the Peace River region and an opportunity to acquire hands-on experience in a scientific field that was previously unfamiliar. Lots of treats and activities over lunch break contributed to a fun summer at home!

-Jadeyn Lunn

20 Years of Canola Surveying

 Ready. Set. Go! 

Things are heating up in the Peace River region and the canola is blooming! As a result, we are about to hit the fields to sample canola for our survey! You’ve learned about the insect pests we've targeted (1,2), where we go (3,4), and how we survey (5) – but what happens in the field and what other information do we collect? 

Typically, we survey in teams of two, with one person serving as both driver and sweep-net sampler (Fig. 1a) and the other taking notes, preparing supplies, and collecting field information (Fig. 1b). Once we arrive at the field, the driver gets out, dons rubber boots and Tyvek booties, and enters the field to sweep-net sample. The sweep sample is collected in a large arc from the field edge out into the field and back. Ten sweeps are collected in each of five sets (for a total of 50 sweeps), spaced every 10 paces to cover multiple locations throughout the field. Samples are then bagged, examined briefly for any abnormal insects or insect densities, and then placed in a cooler on ice. 

 

Figure 1a. Co-op student, Becky Philip, sweeps a canola field near Ft. Vermilion, AB for the 2018 Beaverlodge Research Farm Annual Canola Survey.  1b. Program supervisor, Jennifer Otani, diligently takes notes for the 2008 Beaverlodge Research Farm Canola Survey.  

The passenger exits the vehicle and completes our biosecurity protocol, including vehicle sanitization. Once finished, they conduct growth ratings and identify stubble type (Fig. 2a-d). Staff are trained to detect differences in stubble such as branching white canola stubble, thin curls of pea stubble, or hunting for a wheat or barley head. Why do this? Field stubble can tell us a lot about a field! For the past 20 years, stubble assessments have provided valuable information about crop rotations used by grower-producers in the Peace River region. It can also help explain why certain insects are appearing in higher numbers. 

Figure 2a. Madysen Jones collects growth ratings and identifies stubble in a field near High Level, AB for the 2022 Beaverlodge Research Farm Canola Survey. 2b-d. Can you identify these types of stubble? Sometimes it’s not this easy. Highlight here to reveal the answers: b) canola, c) barley d) wheat. 

During my first year (2014) as a co-op student with the Beaverlodge Insect Pest Management (IPM) program, we found a parasitoid wasp, Macroglenes penetrans (Fig. 3), numbering in the thousands in some survey samples. This parasitoid preys on an economic pest of wheat, wheat midge (Sitodiplosis mosellana). Stubble type helped us to identify that M. penetrans were emerging in canola fields (2014) seeded to wheat the year prior (2013) and then moving to neighboring wheat fields. Discoveries like this help to show how spraying insecticides in canola can potentially negatively affect natural enemies for pests in other crops as well. 

Figure 3. Macroglenes penetrans wasp. Photo credit: Shelby Dufton-AAFC Beaverlodge

 

Canola survey has, and continues to be, my favorite part of the field season for our group! 2023 will be my 10th year conducting the survey and I can’t wait for many more. I would like to say a huge thank you to all the producers willing allowing us to survey on their land this year! And I would like to say a big thank you to all our IPM staff this year and in the past 20 years for helping to make this incredible data set a possibility. Check out the video below to see some of the incredible Beaverlodge IPM staff and collaborators in action over TWENTY YEARS OF SURVEY! 

Author: Shelby Dufton