July 2024 - News from the Wild Side

newsletter

With summer in full swing, farmers and farm workers are experiencing the effects of heat waves, wildfire smoke and flooding across various regions. WFA remains committed to advocating for on-farm habitat to enhance climate resilience, provide heat refuge, promote soil health, and reduce pests. In this newsletter, we share an upcoming event with the Association of Applied IPM Ecologists and the exciting news that WFA was awarded a USDA grant to further develop and expand our Beneficial Bird Habitat Assessment and Native Plant Tool. We also share new studies about plant intelligence and neonicotinoid impacts to butterflies. Finally, we ask for your support for hedgerows to the moon and back.

Enjoy this monthā€™s News from the Wild!

AAIE & WFA Avocado & Coastal Citrus Meeting

Innovative Projects Awarded to Help Conserve Natural Resources and Address Climate Change

Are Some Plants Intelligent?

Neonics Associated with Declines in Butterfly Species Richness and Abundance in the American Midwest

Support Hedgerows to the Moon & Back

two avocados growing

AAIE & WFA Avocado & Coastal Citrus Meeting

669 County Square Drive, Ventura, CA 93003
Tuesday, August 13, 2024 from 8:30am to 1:00pm

Join Wild Farm Alliance and the Association of Applied IPM Ecologists (AAIE) to hear about sustainable pest management for avocado and citrus. Presentations will cover the importance of farmscaping for managing pests, the avoidance of pesticide drift, pest management with augmentation and pesticides, the evaluation for the need of pesticides in a wet year, and insect pesticide resistance.

This event is FREE and lunch will be provided, but pre-registration is required. CE Credits: 0.5 hours of "Laws and Regulations" and 2 hours of "Other" credits have been approved from the Department of Pesticide Regulation.

The meeting is part of a project that is funded in part by the Department of Pesticide Regulation. The contents may not necessarily reflect the official views or policies of the State of California.Ā 

Register Here

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Innovative Projects Awarded to Help Conserve Natural Resources and Address Climate Change

WFA is excited to announce that we have received funding from the USDAĀ NRCSā€™ Conservation Innovation Grant program to expand our Beneficial Bird Habitat Assessment and Native Plant Tool. We will convert the Excel-based tool into an online app that will help conservation planners and farmers to increase on-farm habitat and assist with supporting birds in decline.

ā€œOver the last 20 years, USDAā€™s Conservation Innovation Grants have helped spur new tools and technologies to conserve natural resources, build resilience in producersā€™ operations and improve their bottom lines. Thanks to President Bidenā€™s historic Inflation Reduction Act, we are able to further empower our conservation partners, as well as help meet the demand from producers, to engage in conservation practices that are good for profitable farming, good for rural economies and good for the climate,ā€ Secretary Tom Vilsack said.Ā 

Read the USDAā€™s Press Release

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Goldenrod

Are Some Plants Intelligent?

In a fascinating new paper, a chemical ecologist and a doctoral student at Cornell University argue that the behavior of some plants can fit into a certain definition of intelligence, with some flora species responding to their environment using a kind of memory, coupled with what are argued to be decision-making abilities. For example, the tall goldenrod (Solidago altissima) can apparently 'hear the screams' of its neighbors when they are under attack by a hungry herbivore and emit volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and red light which signals to other goldenrods in the vicinity that they should shore up their defenses in case they too become attacked.

Read More Here

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Neonics Associated with Declines in Butterfly Species Richness and Abundance in the American Midwest

Mounting evidence shows overall insect abundances are in decline globally. Habitat loss, climate change and pesticides have all been implicated, but their relative effects have never been evaluated in a comprehensive large-scale study until now.Ā 

In a paper published in June, researchers found that community-wide declines in total butterfly abundance and species richness to be most strongly associated with insecticides in general, and for butterfly species richness the use of neonicotinoid-treated seeds in particular. They note that declines in monarch abundance related to insecticide use began in 2003, coincident with the initial deployment and rapid adoption of seed-treated neonicotinoids in corn and soybean plantings in the Midwest.

Read More Here

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Support Hedgerows to the Moon & Back

Thank you for being a part of the wild farming movement! Our community of wild farming advocates is helping bring nature back to thousands of farms across the country. We have an ambitious goal to inspire the installation of 500,000 miles of living field borders. That's enough habitat to reach the moon and back.Ā 

Help us grow more hedgerows through the following actions:

  • Watch and share our videos about the benefits of hedgerows on farms. Our Hedgerows: Living Fences to the Moon and Back video, which has already reached over 43,000 views, includes step by step instructions for installing hedgerows on farms.
  • Read and share our publication Installing Habitat to Increase Farm Diversity to help plan and install a new native plant conservation area.
  • Join the Wild Sustainers Club to see your impact go farther. A gift of $10 a month translates to 120 feet of hedgerow being planted on a farm each year to benefit birds, pollinators and other wild neighbors.

This summer, we hope to enroll 10 new Wild Sustainer members. Please help us reach our goal. As a bonus, you can choose between a WFA lined journal or an organic cotton WFA hat when you sign up!

Join the Wild Sustainers Club