Thank you to the industry partners who have joined IR-4 as 2025 event sponsors! With our priority setting meetings coming this fall, it's an opportune moment to demonstrate your dedication to the specialty crop community through sponsorship. Contact us: [email protected]

It's #NationalBlueberryMonth! IR-4 celebrates the bounty of blueberries this month, and we're proud to work behind the scenes like a superhero, helping protect specialty crops from damaging pests. Click through to learn more about blueberries and how we support US growers 🫐🦸‍♀️

Nicole Soldan, our Regional Field Coordinator for the North Central Region, based at MSU, recently harvested some cherries for an IR-4 residue trial. What a beautiful crop! #NationalCherryDay #ir4project

Get to know IR-4 Environmental Horticulture Program Manager, Josh Kindel, through his Q&A session with Science Communications Intern, Raven Baez: ncst.at/gnG850WqRqY #ir4project #peopleofIR4 #ornamentals #horticulture #environmentalhorticulture

Josh Kindel represented our team this week at AmericanHort #Cultivate25. It was a delight connecting with the ornamental industry, researchers, and growers around potential collaborations. Let's keep the dialogue going at our Workshop this fall: ncst.at/krYp50WqS1q

Two The IR-4 Project fungicide trials done! One on #postharvest #avocado and one on miracle fruit 💪🏼 Carlos A. Sendoya-Corrales Thank you to all the lab for helping with the 🥑 harvest! UF/IFAS Plant Pathology Department UF IFAS Tropical Research and Education Center FPS_FloridaPhytoPath APS Postharvest Pathology Committee The American Phytopathological Society FDACS-Plant Industry Dept. of Agriculture FSHS

Yesterday, we volunteered at @foodbankcenc. During a three-hour shift, our group packed over 10,000 pounds of cereal and potatoes for families in need. The Food Bank envisions a future where #noonegoeshungry. We do too, and we're here to help!🍎🥔🥕👩‍🌾🍊🫘🧃 #ir4project

Extension Assistant Professor Lorena Lopez, an #IR4Project researcher at @ncstate, is featured in a recent story from Port City Daily on a devastating #blueberry pest in NC, the #prionusbeetle. Learn more about the pest & Lorena's work here: ncst.at/hV0a50WvtK9

Registration is open for IR-4's 2025 Food Use Workshop! Register by August 28 to take advantage of the early bird rate (it increases by $100 on Aug. 29): ncst.at/msz650WvpQU #IR4project #IR4FUW

Registration is open for the Environmental Hort Workshop! Submit a Project Clearance Request or fill out our Grower & Extension Survey to help shape conversations at the workshop—the deadline for both is 8/29. Register & learn more: ncst.at/NUy650Wvqpl #IR4project #IR4EHW

Our MSU field research team recently harvested blueberries and Methley plums at the Trevor Nichols Research Center. Celeste Wheeler's residue trial on Shiro plum—a yellow, Japanese variety—is coming along fruitfully, too! #ir4project

Touring The IR-4 Project trials in #Hawaii #Honolulu - comparing notes and learning how #pesticides trials are conducted in the island 🏝️ Looking forward to working together to facilitate the registration of efficacious #Fungicides UF/IFAS Plant Pathology Department UF IFAS Tropical Research and Education Center The Global Food Systems Institute at UF IFAS

IR-4 is gearing up for our two big priority-setting events this fall: the Food Use Workshop and the Environmental Horticulture Workshop. Registration is open for both. Learn more & register: 🍎 FUW: ncst.at/Y1LT50WCWPC 🌳 EHW: ncst.at/36NA50WCWPy

After years of trying, our lab FINALLY has a reliable bioassay for Geotrichum sour rot in #sweetpotato. Huge thanks to Kelly J. Avila for solving this! Now we can tackle its biology and test fungicides. Watch out, Geotrichum, we’re coming for you 👀🍠 N.C. Plant Sciences Initiative NC SweetPotatoes

The Food Use Workshop is just a month away! A final agenda is now available on the event web page, along with registration & hotel info. Register by 8/28 for the early bird rate: ncst.at/xBq550WEQlO

The New Mexico State Agricultural Science Center at Los Lunas will host a chile field day on August 28. The field day will include an IR-4 update on pest management research for chile production by Chanz Robbins, IR-4 program manager at NMSU 🌶️ Register here: ncst.at/vLbC50WFWyI

IR-4's project nomination period is open until August 25! This is our stakeholders' opportunity to nominate the project requests that you would like to see prioritized at the Food Use Workshop. Visit our website to learn more and make your nominations: ncst.at/7mJR50WHuqz

Look what our New Mexico researchers have bean up to this season 🫘 👀 🫘 IR-4 State Liaison Rep & Field Research Director at New Mexico State, Chanz Robbins, shares his first harvest of 2025. IR-4 will use these samples to analyze herbicide residues of a new use for dry bean producers.

During a recent House Ag Committee hearing focused on specialty crops, Terranova Ranch Vice President Don Cameron was questioned by Rep. Kat Cammack (R-FL) about IR-4's role. Check out the video clip from Forbes Breaking News: ncst.at/UQzS50WJtLm