Home > Agriculture >First Detectors Fruit and Vegetables
 
  Minnesota Fruit and Vegetable Pest First Detectors Program  

This new program is targeted to growers and others involved with or interested in new and invasive weeds, diseases and insect pests of fruits and vegetables in Minnesota. The program has two parts:

  1. Workshops on potentially new and recently arrived pests of Minnesota fruit and vegetables. Workshops provide detailed and up to the minute information on the pest distribution, spread, biology, scouting and detection and management.
  2. Establishing a system of trained First Detector volunteers who are a local resource working with state efforts to quickly find the first detections of important new fruit and vegetable pests at the state, county, township level and document their spread in Minnesota

Press Release about Minnesota Fruit and Vegetable First Detector Program (PDF)

For more details about the
Minnesota Fruit & Vegetable Pest First Detector Program
download this PDF fact sheet.

The program is based on the highly successful and award wining Minnesota Forest Pest First Detectors Program and is a joint venture of the Minnesota Department of Agriculture and University of Minnesota Extension with the First Detector program in the National Plant Diagnostic Network.

 

Workshop

The first workshop for the Minnesota Fruit and Vegetable Pest First Detector Program will be held in conjunction with Upper Midwest Regional Fruit & Vegetable Growers Conference
& Trade Show:

Check in 8:00 a.m.
Program 8:30 a.m. - 12:00 noon
January 16, 2013
St. Cloud River’s Edge Convention Center
St. Cloud, MN

Pests covered will include: spotted wing drosophila, brown marmorated stink bug, Goss’s wilt of sweet corn and exotic downy mildews of basil and cucurbits.

Anyone may attend. Attendance is required for those who want to be part of the Minnesota Fruit and Vegetable Pest First Detector volunteer program* to help the public find new invasive species affecting Minnesota’s fruits and vegetables.

* You do not need to become a First Detector to attend

  
   
   

To Become A Fruit and Vegetable Pest First Detector Volunteer

If you want to become a Fruit and Vegetable First Detector volunteer you must:

1. Attend the Fruit and Vegetable Pest First Detector Workshop
2. Provide your email address when you register (required so you can receive First Detector communications)
3. Complete all of the on-line NPDN and Minnesota modules listed below - strongly encourage to do so BEFORE you attend the training (Four NPDN modules and one Minnesota module)
4. Sign a First Detector confidentially form at the workshop.

  
 

NPDN First Detector Modules Required To Become a Minnesota Fruit and Vegetable Pest First Detector

The First Detectors program is part of the National Plant Diagnostic Network – NPDN (http://www.npdn.org). To access the four NPDN modules you will need to create a First Detector volunteer account. Doing so puts you under no further obligation.

1. Go to the NPDN training and education web page ( http://firstdetector.org )

2. On left hand column scroll down to ‘Training Site Login’ and click.

3. The NPDN training and education web page opens. On the page click on ‘Create New Account’ and follow the instructions. An email will be sent to you with an ‘activation link.’ Your account will not be set up until you click on that link in the email you receive (be sure to check your email junk or spam folder for the email).

If you are having trouble creating a new account, try a different web browser (if using Explorer try FireFox for example).

4. Once your account is activated, follow steps 1 and 2  above. Enter the Username and Password you have have chosen to open the NPDN E - Learning Modules page. Complete the following Crop Biosecuirty Course modules (top row) and associated test (second row) by clicking on their name:

-   Mission of the NPDN
-   Monitoring for High-Risks Pests
-   Diagnosing Plant Problems
-   Submitting Diagnostic Samples

Once you exit a module you may need to re log-in to reach the E-Learning page with the modules and tests. (some modules exit' buttons take you to a similar looking overview page that does not have access to the modules and tests).

Each module includes text, graphics and links to more information and a few questions. complete the not difficult 'test'- really a quiz - after going through each module.

You may complete other modules if you wish.

 

Minnesota Invasive Species Module Required to Become a Minnesota Fruit and Vegetable Pest First Detector

Just click the module title below. The presentation is Windows Media Video (WMV) format and should open in most players. It may take a while to download to open. Be sure to have your computer sound turned on.

Minnesota Module: Minnesota Invasive Species Program
 

For more information contact:

Dean Herzfeld, University of Minnesota Extension
612-624-3477, deanh@umn.edu