EPA seeks school IPM research

Integrated pest management (IPM) strategies in schools has long been an industry focus, but to date, much of the data has been anecdotal, particularly from an economic standpoint. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) Office of Pesticide Programs (OPP) looks to remedy this by gathering hard data and an unbiased assessment of the return on investment (ROI) of various IPM in schools strategies. It wants to cast a wide net, looking at a variety of K-12 school settings — public and tribal schools in urban and rural areas, large and small alike.

As the National Pest Management Association (NPMA) reported in its July 24 Week in Review, the OPP is soliciting research proposals through Sept. 9, 2015, for “The Economics of School Integrated Pest Management.” The grant is up to $300,000 for a two-year program of research, data collection and analysis. Learn more at Grants.gov, under Funding Opportunity announcement EPA-OPP-2015-007.