The IR-4 Project

10/15/2026

Our HQ team had a fantastic time yesterday observing our annual Employee Appreciation Day. We had lunch, tackled an escape room, and got ice cream. How lucky are we to work with such talented professionals and wonderful people! To our colleagues who couldn't join us in person—you are deeply appreciated, too 🙌 🌟🍦

10/08/2026

IR-4 Study Director Rob Welker recently attended a specialty crop tour on the western side of Washington state and got to see some incredible production. The tour began in the Skagit Valley, where over 90 crops are commercially produced, including processing cucumber, brussels sprouts, organic blueberry, figs, kiwi berry, nursery plants, faba beans, dry beans, spinach seed, beet seed, corn and winter wheat. The west side of the Cascades has moderate temperatures and ample rainfall, allowing for very different crops to be grown compared to the east side of Washington, which is very dry and hot.

Enjoy these striking images Rob captured of the tour of blueberries, dahlia, Brussels sprouts, and potato flowers—we'll share more insights and images from the tour in the weeks to come!

10/05/2026

Join us in wishing a very happy retirement to Jane Forder, who concluded her extraordinary career last week. Jane has been a valued member of the IR-4 team for over 20 years and was honored with the Meritorious Service Award in 2023.

Most recently, Jane served as Lead Quality Assurance Auditor for IR-4’s Northeast and North Central Regions. In this role, Jane helped her regional colleagues set the gold standard for Good Laboratory Practice (GLP) compliance and travelled across the country to help wherever needed. With her constant travel from field site to field site, Jane joked that she was IR-4's "most frequent flyer."

Colleagues deeply appreciated Jane's willingness to step up to the plate wherever and whenever a need arose. With her encyclopedic GLP knowledge and empathy for the unpredictable nature of field work, Jane was an incredible ally to IR-4's research collaborators and an invaluable asset to the Quality Assurance Unit.

Learn more about Jane in this 2024 People of IR-4 feature, and join us in applauding this milestone! http://ncst.at/lgQB50ZUC3x

10/01/2026

We're in excellent company as award recipients under the U.S. Department of Agriculture FAS' Assisting Specialty Crop Exports (ASCE) initiative. In addition to IR-4's $10 million, 5-year partnership to strengthen market access for specialty crop exports, USDA announced:

📌A $3 million grant to support the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) in developing maximum residue limits (MRLs), which are essential to facilitating global trade.

📌A $500,000 project with Bryant Christie Inc. to develop a comprehensive analysis to provide U.S. agricultural producers with clearer insight into biopesticide regulatory and residue requirements in foreign markets.

Congratulations to our fellow ASCE award recipients! We are ready to get to work strengthening the specialty crop industry together.

Read more in USDA's stakeholder notice:
http://ncst.at/KXYs50ZTsYu

Image: Shelley Pauls / Unsplash

10/01/2026

Join us in following our friends at American Mushroom 👇

We’re growing something new: Our Facebook Presence! 📣

American Mushroom has a new official page, and we’d love for you to join us there!

Follow American Mushroom for the latest mushroom-industry news, farm and grower stories, events, resources, recipes, advocacy updates, and more from the people who grow America’s mushrooms.

Please visit our new Page, click Follow, and share it with anyone who loves mushrooms or wants to stay connected to the industry.

➡️ Follow us HERE: American Mushroom 🍄

Thank you for being part of the American Mushroom community. We look forward to seeing you on the new page! 🎉

09/25/2026

The IR-4 Project at NC State College of Agriculture and Life Sciences has received a $10 million, five-year award from the U.S. Department of Agriculture Foreign Agricultural Service (USDA FAS) to help U.S. specialty crop growers overcome pesticide residue-related barriers to international trade.

The award, part of USDA’s Assisting Specialty Crop Exports (ASCE) Initiative, will expand IR-4’s capacity to generate scientific data supporting international pesticide maximum residue limits (MRLs) and develop practical strategies to reduce residue-related export risks.

In the words of our Executive Director, Lina Quesada-Ocampo:

“We are very excited for the opportunity to expand how IR-4 supports U.S. specialty crop growers in global markets. We are grateful to USDA FAS for their confidence in IR-4 and excited to build this new program together with our stakeholders and partners.”

Learn more about the award here:
http://ncst.at/GP8m50ZRszu

09/22/2026

Congratulations to this year's recipients of IR-4's Jerry Baron SOAR Award: Dr. Lynn Sosnoskie of Cornell University and Dr. Doug Walsh of Washington State University.

The Jerry Baron SOAR Award honors external partners who exemplify the areas of Service, Outreach, Altruism, and Research, while supporting specialty crop growers and the mission of The IR-4 Project. This year’s recipients have made significant, lasting contributions to specialty crop protection across the nation. We applaud their dedication and enjoyed presenting their awards at last week's .

Learn more about the awardees in our latest story:
http://ncst.at/8Q5650ZQkiU

09/17/2026

IR-4's greatest strength is our community. Enjoying being with all of you at the !

09/16/2026

Thanks to our presenters for opening up the with insightful updates on how IR-4 and our partners are collaborating to meet today's challenges and support specialty crop agriculture.

> Our new Director, Lina Quesada-Ocampo, introduced herself to even more of the IR-4 community and presented IR-4's latest news and progress this year.

> Jonathan Sarager from Western Growers and Chair of the Commodity Liaison Committee shared updates on committee membership, funding efforts, and advocacy work. We couldn't do what we do without this dedicated group!

> Anna-Katrina Briley from the U.S. EPA provided helpful updates from the Office of Pesticide Programs to guide our conversations this week.

> Matt Hengel, Project Management Committee Chair and Western Region Director, spoke to laboratory capacity and the complexity of certain projects to help guide priority discussions.

Thanks to these folks, we are well prepared to set impactful priorities for next year's food crop research!

09/15/2026

We're off & running at ! Let's do this 🍉🍒🫛🧄🍄‍🟫

Special thanks to our sponsors and stakeholders for coming together to make this event happen. And a shout-out to Krystal Chojnacki for setting up the 🔥 swag table!

Register as a virtual attendee to follow along online:
http://ncst.at/KJ4a50ZNX2F