The KARE IR-4 Field Research Center
What is the Kearney Agricultural Research and Extension IR-4 Field Research Center Program?
Part of the Western Region IR-4 Program, which
o Is part of the national IR-4 Specialty Crops Project funded by USDA NIFA and headquartered at Rutgers University, New Jersey providing safe & effective pest management solutions for specialty crop growers. The Western Region IR-4 is housed in the Environmental Toxicology Department at the University of California, Davis.
o Represents crop protection needs for 13 Western States: AK, AZ, CA, CO, HI, ID MT, NM, NV, OR, UT, WA, WY, & The Pacific Island Territories
o Has field, laboratory and quality assurance units based at UC Davis
o Is federally funded by USDA NIFA grants
A program based at Kearney that annually conducts up to 50 IR-4 field trials on food use crops
o The largest IR-4 field research center in the country
o Mimics commercial practices for research on:
- Diverse field, row, tree and vine crops
- Greenhouse crops
- Mushrooms
- Postharvest commodities, for example, avocados, oranges, lemons, kiwifruit, peaches, cherries, figs, pomegranates, almonds, pecans
o Conducts research at
- Kearney Agricultural Research and Extension Center
- Lindcove Research and Extension Center
- West side Research and Extension Center
- Cooperative grower sites