Combined with previous project outputs, this third year of the project will generate new knowledge to identify field-level factors associated with BMSB infestations, improve the sampling and decision-making guidelines for timing prescribed insecticide treatments, provide site-specific treatment options, and thereby inform growers of more efficient BMSB management strategies for reducing soybean crop losses due to BMSB. The project will also identify landscape scale factors that influence the abundance and spread of BMSB, identify and map soybean production areas and specific fields with higher BMSB invasion risk, and inform and educate soybean growers to prepare for potential BMSB problems. Results will be incorporated into a regional management guide with sampling procedures designed specifically for early detection of adult invasion at field edges, action thresholds to implement treatments, detailed recommendations of the timing and application methods, and available insecticides for perimeter treatments. The decision guidelines will be dynamic, including specific action thresholds by plant growth stage and to account for variable factors such as row spacing, control cost, and market price of soybean. Key outputs of Objective 5 will be spatial maps showing the risk (probability) of seasonal infestation of the BMSB in mid-Atlantic region, and we anticipate that the models can be used as a tool for forecasting BMSB pest pressure and management planning in other soybean production areas.

Adoption of project results is expected to significantly reduce the quantity and intensity of insecticide applied to control BMSB, thereby enabling soybean producers to increase yields and capture a greater proportion of your potential (Target Area S1). Reducing the cost and environmental risks related to pest control. Overall, the project output is applicable to all stakeholders affected by BMSB infestations in soybean, particularly six northeast states (MD, PA, WV, DE, NJ and NY) and in VA. We anticipate that the predictions of potentially high risk areas, improved sampling and decision-making procedures, and effective management strategies will aid in reducing soybean losses in other production regions. The educational and information transfer effort will help producers integrate new research information as it becomes available to better manage BMSB problems. Consequences of our research-extension outputs will lead to adoption of IPM practices for BMSB that are more sustainable, economically viable, and ecologically friendly.