Progress Thru Sharing Food security is best served by a national infrastructure of public and private professionals who routinely monitor crop health and pest incidence then translate this knowledge to a shared platform enabling rapid dissemination of mitigation measures to limit crop loss. The iPiPE provides such an infrastructure with cyberage tools, information products and expert commentary for detection and management of pests that threaten U.S. crops. iPiPE Crop-Pest Programs incentivize growers and consultants to submit observations on pests by providing tools and information for timely management decision-making. The iPiPE, through its Crop-Pest Programs, will increase IPM adoption and enhance U.S. food security. Underlying premise is that food security would benefit greatly from the development of a culture of sharing information on important agricultural pests. The iPiPE provides a mechanism to facilitate this sharing, built around a growing set of Crop-Pest Programs that engage stakeholders to participate. Food security and IPM go hand in hand The argument we used to get grant

The iPiPE mission has four interrelated components: (i) Contribute to our nation’s infrastructure for food security; (ii) Build local and regional capacity to respond to food security problems involving crop pests; (iii) Reduce adverse environmental effects from pest management practices; and (iv) Enhance farm profitability. We specifically articulated 4 components of that mission.