Reaching out to the Amish and Mennonite Vegetable Growers In Missouri On Integrated Pest Management

Currently all five produce auctions in Missouri are operated by Amish and Mennonite. These auctions provided a reliable market for Amish and Mennonite vegetable producers, as well as some other producers. Most Amish and Mennonite producers did not finish high school and have difficulties in understanding the integrated pest management (IPM) theories and practices. To help these people, five basic vegetable IPM workshops and four advanced vegetable IPM workshops were conducted in 2008 and 2009, with the funding supported by EPA region 7. More than 290 people attended the 5 workshops in 2008 and about 175 people (38 were returned attendees) showed up in 2009. Over 2/3 of participants were Amish and Mennonite for both years. A vital measurement consisting of same six IPM questions was used to test the gain of workshop attendees. The IPM Transition Index (scales of 0 to 5) was employed to represent the progress by attendees. In 2008, same questions were given to all attendees pre- and post-workshops, and 215 workshop assessments were completed. The average score for the six assessment questions by all 205 responders indicated a pre-workshop IPM Transition Index score of 2.76 (which was higher than the expectation). Assessments returned following the workshop scored 3.54, resulting in a gain of 0.78 from joining the presentations at the workshops. In 2009, only those 38 returned participants were surveyed with the same questions. The IPM Transition Index was 3.51, which surprised us as a higher score was anticipated. However, it was noted that the returned participants actually maintained the IPM level of last year, indicating that the workshops were successful in promoting the application of IPM by Amish and Mennonite vegetable growers. The assessment also showed the regional difference in the perception of IPM from Amish and Mennonite vegetable growers in Missouri. Growers from Barnnet seemed to be more advanced in applying IPM in vegetable production.