CURRENT ISSUE:ORGANIC FARMERS ARE A DYNAMIC POPULATION THAT IMPLEMENT VARYING MANAGEMENT PRACTICES ACROSS SPACE AND TIME. THESE MANAGEMENT PRACTICES HAVE ECOLOGICAL OUTCOMES. SOCIO-ECOLOGICAL MODELS LINK FARMER BELIEFS TO THE PRACTICES THEY USE, INTEGRATING THE FARMER INTO THE ECOLOGICAL OUTCOMES STUDIED BY RESEARCHERS, A PROCESS WHICH IS OFTEN IGNORED.MAIN PURPOSE:THIS STUDY TAKES A SOCIO-ECOLOGICAL APPROACH TO STUDY LINKS BETWEEN FARMER BELIEFS, BEHAVIORS, AND THE ECOLOGICAL OUTCOMES ON AN EMERGENT PEST MANAGEMENT TACTIC; THE USE OF SOIL MICROBES TO PROMOTE PLANT DEFENSES AND REDUCE INSECT PEST POPULATIONS. ORGANIC FARMS ARE KNOWN TO PROMOTE THESE MICROBES, HOWEVER, VARIABLE ADOPTION OF PARTICULAR PRACTICES (E.G., COVER CROPPING, MULCHING, TILLAGE) COULD LEAD TO DIFFERENCES IN THE SOIL MICROBE COMMUNITIES, PLANT DEFENSES, AND PEST SUPPRESSION ACROSS FARMS. THUS, A SOCIO-ECOLOGICAL APPROACH PROVIDES A NOVEL MEANS FOR PROMOTING THE ADOPTION OF THESE PRACTICES ACROSS A DIVERSE ARRAY OFORGANIC FARMERS WITH DIFFERING BELIEFS THAT INFLUENCE THEIR APPROACH TO FARMING.METHODS:I WILL PAIR AN AREA WIDE SURVEY OF ORGANIC FARMERS WITH NEXT-GENERATION DNA SEQUENCING OF SOIL MICROBIAL COMMUNITIES ON THESE FARMS. I WILL THEN CONDUCT EXPERIMENTS WITH THE SAME SOIL TO EVALUATE LINKS BETWEEN FARMER BELIEFS, BEHAVIORS, AND THE ECOLOGICAL OUTCOME ON MICROBES, PLANT DEFENSES, AND PEST MANAGEMENT. LASTLY, I WILL INFORM MY TARGET AUDIENCE (ORGANIC FARMERS) OF THESE RESULTS AND USE A STATISTICAL MODEL TO ASSESS THE TEMPORAL AND SPATIAL SCALING OF THESE PRACTICES AND THE ECOLOGICAL OUTCOMES THROUGH INDICATED AREA WIDE CHANGES IN FARMERS BELIEFS AND BEHAVIORS.EXPECTED ACCOMPLISHMENTS:THIS RESEARCH WILL PROVIDE NEW INSIGHTS INTO THE PRACTICES THAT PROMOTE PEST REGULATION, PLANT HEALTH, AND PRODUCTIVITY. ULTIMATELY, THE GOAL OF MY RESEARCH IS TO TAKE THE NOVEL STEP OF INTEGRATING FARMER BELIEFS INTO THE TYPICAL RESEARCH PROCESS THAT STUDIES FARMING PRACTICES AND THEIR ECOLOGICAL OUTCOMES ON INSECTS.ANTICIPATED BENEFITS:THIS RESEARCH AND EXTENSION APPROACH IS FLEXIBLE (I.E., THE MICROBE-PLANT-PEST INTERACTIONS SYSTEM I USE HERE IS A MODEL) AND COULD BE APPLIED TO MANY REGIONS LOOKING TO ENHANCE THE SUSTAINABILITY OF FARMING SYSTEMS BY ENGAGING A DIVERSE [HETEROGENOUS] ARRAY OF FARMERS.THE ULTIMATE GOAL OF THIS PROJECT IS TO PROMOTE GREATER ADOPTION OF ORGANIC PEST MANAGEMENT PRACTICES THROUGH THIS NOVEL SOCIO-ECOLOGICAL APPROACH YIELDING ENVIRONMENTAL, ECONOMIC, AND SOCIAL BENEFITS.