International IPM Achievement Awards
The International IPM Achievement Awards recognize people who have made outstanding achievements in IPM adoption, implementation, and sustainability. There are five award categories:
- Lifetime Achievement
- IPM Practitioner – Academic
- IPM Practitioner – Non-academic (New this year!)
- IPM Team/Group
- Graduate Student
10th International IPM Symposium Award Recipients
Lifetime Achievement Awards of Excellence
Dr. Anthony (Tony) Shelton, International Professor of Entomology with a distinguished career of over 40 years at Cornell University, personifies lifetime commitment and passion for the principles and practices of IPM. His impact on IPM can best be illustrated by the variety of crops, pests and IPM tactics he has investigated. Dr. Shelton firmly believes he is obligated to work for the public good, both domestically and internationally, and he has achieved these goals by developing strong research and extension programs that use sound insect management strategies for vegetables, with spin-offs for many others crops. Throughout his career he has developed and deployed several key IPM tactics including the use of genetically engineered crops and insects. He was involved in the first field release of a genetically engineered virus for insect control in 1999 and, in 2017, conducted the first release of a GE agricultural insect pest with a self-limiting gene. One of his most remarkable successes has been with the USAID-funded Bt eggplant project in Bangladesh. From an initial 20 farmers in 2014, now more than 30,000 farmers are growing Bt eggplant in 2020. A recent study confirmed that Bt eggplant is accepted in the market, provides complete control of the eggplant fruit and shoot borer, the main pest of eggplant, and that grower receive an average of 19.6% higher yield and 21.7% higher revenue compared to non-Bt varieties.
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Dr. Thomas (Tom) Green has been a national leader in market-based sustainability and Integrated Pest Management (IPM) initiatives for over thirty years. He formed The IPM Institute of North America as an independent 501(c)3 non-profit in 1998 to improve sustainability in agriculture and communities through market-based mechanisms based in Integrated Pest Management (IPM) and other sustainable practices. Under his leadership, the Institute earned the International IPM Excellence Award from the 6th International IPM Symposium in 2009, and was recognized as a national award winner in 2004, 2005, 2008, 2009 and 2012 by the US EPA Pesticide Environmental Stewardship Program. Throughout his career in IPM, Dr. Green has built an ever-expanding network of IPM and sustainability professionals. His ability to quickly draw connections across projects and disciplines, and to see how divergent pieces fit together in the big picture brings people and projects together in a shared mission of advancing sustainability in agriculture and communities. One of the biggest successes of his program is the IPM STAR certification for schools and childcare facilities that Dr. Green helped to create. The program impacts more than 2 million children and adopted by the US Army, and offers Green Shield Certification to structural pest management professionals.
Dr. Charles Vincent, Research Scientist (Entomology), at the Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu Research and Development Centre, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, is an international leader in agricultural entomology and has led innovation in research and development of alternative insect management methods to conventional insecticides. He has an illustrious career spanning over 30 years to his credit and the goal of his program is to address threats posed by arthropods to some horticultural crops by developing non-insecticidal methods with the aim to improve the sustainability of plant protection programs. Dr. Vincent’s research has been instrumental in the development and commercialization of biopesticide products. Beyond biopesticide research, Dr. Vincent has achieved international reputation for important contributions to physical control and classical biological control methods for management of insect pests. Perhaps some of his most significant contributions are in the field of developing biopesticides for use in the apple, grape and blueberry industries, which have very high quality and innocuity standards. In collaboration with Biotepp Inc., he developed Virosoft CP4, the first insecticidal virus registered for agricultural use in Canada (also registered in USA).
[View article about Dr. Charles Vincent]
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Awards of Excellence (IPM Practitioner – Academic)
Dr. Jawwad Qureshi, Associate Professor of Entomology, University of Florida will receive the International IPM Award of Excellence (IPM Practitioner – Academic) award for his leadership in innovation and promotion of IPM in citrus, particularly for the Asian citrus psyllid (ACP), vector of the huanglongbing (HLB) or citrus greening disease. Dr. Qureshi demonstrated a 90% reduction in ACP populations mainly by predators and identified the needs for conservation and augmentation of predators and parasitoids. He was instrumental in introduction of the parasitoid, Tamarixia radiata, from its region of origin into Florida, in collaboration with scientists from UF, FDACS, and USDA. Tamarixia radiata is now mass-produced in Florida, California, and Texas in and is widely released, which has improved ACP parasitism rates from 10% to 40-60%. The “tap sampling method” developed by Dr. Qureshi provides stakeholders with an efficient tool to determine the incidence of ACP and other pests and beneficial organisms and has become the industry standard. His research has shown that organic programs hold significant potential to control ACP and provide yields equal to or better than conventional programs, which is another significant contribution to citrus IPM.
Ms. Janet Hurley, Program Specialist, Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service will receive the International IPM Award of Excellence (IPM Practitioner – Academic) for her outstanding work in school IPM. Ms. Hurley was one of the very first (and still few) IPM educators in the nation focused on school IPM, and started her work in 2001. Since then, she has worked tirelessly to develop a statewide program aligned with the Texas school IPM laws that mandate IPM in Texas schools. She is a strong advocate of hands-on training, including field trips and demonstrations, and continues this approach in all educational events she organizes even today, such as the interactive Rodent Academy for schools and pest management professionals. She was instrumental in the formation of the Texas IPM Affiliates for Public Schools (TIPMAPS), the first statewide association of school IPM professionals in the U.S. Through her successful program, Ms. Hurley has maintained regular training courses for school IPM coordinators and staff, hosted a nationally recognized school IPM website, served on national and regional school IPM committees, established strong working relationships with a variety of organizations that have supported her school IPM efforts. She has been active in the International IPM Symposium Steering and Awards Committees, the national School IPM Network, and continues to promote IPM and safer pesticide practices.
Dr. Andrew Sutherland, with the University of California Cooperative Extension will receive the International IPM Award of Excellence (IPM Practitioner – Academic) for his pioneering work as the first Area Urban IPM Advisor in California, a position he has served since 2012. With no prior program or predecessor to follow, Dr. Sutherland was faced with the task of serving the IPM needs of over 15 diverse stakeholder groups ranging from structural, industrial, and household pest control operators to retail store staff, housing and lodging managers and child care providers. Using innovative ideas such as using “outreach multipliers” within communities to expand his reach, he developed his own multi-faceted extension model for assessing and addressing the needs of his clientele. Some of the focus areas of his program include bed bugs, cockroaches and termite remediation and reduced-risk pest management in childcare facilities and low-income multi-unit housing. One of Dr. Sutherland’s notable projects was a Western IPM Center workgroup to create and maintain a clearinghouse website for outreach materials on bed bug prevention and management, serving site-specific and state-specific client groups in the western U.S.
Award of Excellence (IPM Practitioner – Non-academic)
Mr. Frank Meek, BCE, Manager Technical Services, Rollins Inc. will receive the International IPM Award of Excellence (IPM Practitioner – Non-Academic), for his outstanding work in developing and implementing novel, IPM-based strategies of controlling pests in the urban environment. Mr. Meek has spent his entire career in the urban pest management industry. At a time when the industry was heavily reliant on “traditional” sprays and fogs, he worked with manufacturers to help research novel ways of controlling pests, specifically German cockroaches in the urban environment. He has also written protocols which emphasized the importance of inspection, monitoring, physical controls and cultural controls within a program where cockroach gel baits were used when necessary his introduction of cockroach gel bait into an Integrated Pest Management (IPM) plan to Orkin was a game changer in the 1990’s. An application device (bait gun) that ended up as a standard for applying cockroach gel bait, a liquid ant bait station, and use of bacterial and enzymatic cleaners to clean out organic debris are just some of the many innovative ideas that he has used successfully in his programs. Mr. Meek is noted for his excellent communication skills which have led him to 60 different countries, supporting 90 location staff providing initial training and orientation.
Awards of Excellence (IPM Team)
Plantwise–CABI will receive the International IPM Award of Excellence (IPM Team). Launched in 2011, the Plantwise program works by establishing networks of local plant clinics, where farmers can get safe and reliable agricultural advice from local/national government extension staff trained as plant doctors. This is reinforced by the Plantwise Knowledge Bank, an open access gateway to actionable plant health information, including diagnostic resources, pest management advice and front-line pest data. The changes in farmers’ pesticide use and behavior with regard to pest management practices, is among the greatest successes for the program, particularly given that these practices are deep-rooted in the minds of most farmers. Plantwise countries have reported up to 60% increase in the use of nonchemical practices. Some of these changes are evidenced by reduced pesticide use, decreased use of the most toxic chemicals, use of more efficient products and application methods rather than mixing random pesticides and increase in safer alternatives, and improved use of PPE.
The California Almond IPM Team, University of California Cooperative Extension will receive the International IPM Award of Excellence (IPM Team). The California Almond IPM Team serves as a role model for the implementation of integrated pest management (IPM) practices. For more than a decade, the team conducted research on navel orangeworm, spider mites, leaffooted bug, and ants that laid the groundwork for IPM adoption. The team’s efforts pushed mating disruption along the IPM continuum from basic to applied research, applied research to demonstration plots, demonstration plots to extension, and extension to adoption and implementation against California’s number one pest of almonds. The team represents a prime example of the impacts that can be achieved through multi-organizational collaborative efforts. These collaborative efforts included private farming companies, University and USDA scientists, extension specialists, and growers and their associated commodity board.
The IPM Innovation Lab, Virginia Tech University will receive the International IPM Award of Excellence (IPM Team). The IPM Innovation Lab (IPM IL) aims to reduce crop losses caused by pests, damage to natural ecosystems including biodiversity, and contamination of food and water systems by adopting cost effective and socially acceptable programs in developing countries. Currently, IPM IL works in Bangladesh, Cambodia, Nepal, Vietnam, Ethiopia, Kenya, and Tanzania and implements IPM packages for vegetable, cereal, legume, and fruit crops. In addition to scaling adoption of IPM packages IPM IL monitors, models, and manages the spread of invasive species, organizes awareness and management workshops, provides graduate training to students from developing countries, and encompasses gender and social equality in all activities. Over the last 27 years, IPM IL has generated at least $2 billion in economic benefits in the developing world. The greatest success of the program is advancing the livelihood standards of people in the developing world, improving human and environmental health, and developing human and institutional capacity involving gender equity and social integration.
Lifetime Achievement Awards of Recognition
Dr. Tom Royer, Professor of Entomology at Oklahoma State University is one of the premier Extension entomologists in the US. He has been an IPM advocate and researcher since 1983, and a leading force behind “IPM Oklahoma!”, a dynamic and integrative program involving agricultural, horticultural, and urban pest management systems, within a number of disciplines, covering a wide variety of pests. Dr. Royer’s program strives to establish economic, social, and environmental impact through innovative pest management tactics. As primary facilitator, he works with diverse stakeholder groups to deliver educational programs and demonstrate how IPM practices reduce economic impact, increase environmental stewardship, and provide increased profitability and public safety for all clientele. One of the most important successes of his IPM program is the development of the decision support tool called “Glance ‘n Go” for aphids in wheat and sorghum. The Glance n’ Go sequential sampling program allows producers to quickly sample fields for pests and make economically dynamic decisions based on the value of the crop and control costs. Dr. Royer’s program engages with a diversity of groups across the state, not just agricultural producers. He has worked extensively to provide tribes with technical expertise to make life better for their citizens.
Dr. Rangaswamy “Muni” Muniappan is a world-renowned scientist in tropical entomology, biological control of insect pests and weeds, and integrated pest management. He currently serves as Director of the USAID-funded IPM Innovation Lab (IPM IL) at Virginia Tech, a position he has held since 2006 after more than 30 years as a scientist and administrator at the University of Guam. Muni has devoted his career to improving conditions for smallholder farmers in the developing world through pest management research. As Director of IPM IL, he oversees multidisciplinary teams of entomologists, pathologists, virologists, weed scientists, economists, modelers, and gender specialists in seven country sites (Nepal, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Vietnam, Kenya, Tanzania, and Ethiopia). A highlight of his career is his successful collaboration to combat the papaya mealybug in southern India, where it emerged as a new pest decimating several crops. Thanks to the efforts of Dr. Muniappan and a collaborative relationship he established with USDA/APHIS, three parasitic insects were introduced, multiplied, and released. Within five months, the papaya mealybug population and its damage dropped dramatically. Muni’s alertness, persistence, and cooperation with Indian and U.S. scientists and officials saved more than $100 million in crop losses per year, and when the pest spread to major agricultural areas in northern India, Bangladesh, and Nepal, the beneficial insects moved with it, severely limiting economic damage in these areas.
Awards of Recognition (IPM Practitioner – Academic)
Mr. Lynn Braband, Senior Extension Associate, The New York State IPM Program, Cornell University will receive the International IPM Award of Recognition (IPM Practitioner – Academic). Throughout his 21 years at Cornell, Mr. Braband developed and implemented statewide outreach in many aspects of structural and non-agricultural IPM. He accomplished much through speaking, holding workshops and demonstrations illustrating IPM practices, and backing them up with easy-to-understand educational resources. His dedicated service on the National School IPM Steering Committee, the International IPM Symposium Program Committee, the IPM Program Work Team, Rochester Healthy Home Partnership, the Statewide School Environmental Health Steering Committee, and foremost, his co-leadership of the Northeast School IPM Working Group kept the NYSIPM Program connected to a wide and vibrant network locally, nationally, and internationally.
Dr. Richard Raid, Plant Pathology Professor & Associate Center Director, UF/IFAS/Everglades Research & Education Center, will receive the International IPM Award of Recognition (IPM Practitioner – Academic) for his innovative program featuring barn owls for sustainable rodent control. Initiated in 1994, the project features the building and placement of owl nesting boxes along field edges and canals in the Everglades Agricultural Area (EAA). Dr. Raid’s barn owl program has solicited and gained the full support of the Florida sugarcane and rice industries, as well as much of the local vegetable industry. The UF Barn Owl Project is now responsible for some of the highest barn owl densities in North America, and he has been instrumental to program initiatives in Idaho, Arizona, and Mississippi. Positive results have been evident, with growers reporting less rodent damage to their cane in harvest reports, and with significant reductions in rodenticide use. Additionally, two wildlife rehabilitation centers reported reduced cases of secondary poisoning to raptors and mammalian predators from the area as an unforeseen benefit of the program.
Dr. Shahadath Hossain, Principal Scientific Officer, Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute (BARI), Bangladesh will receive the International IPM Award of Recognition (IPM Practitioner – Academic) for his work in coordinating projects in collaboration with the IPM IL (CRSP), and the USAID Horticulture Project in Bangladesh. As part of these projects, he has developed innovative IPM technologies such as fruit bagging with brown paper, to reduce fruit fly infestation in tree fruits such as mango and guava, which have resulted in significant reductions in pesticide use. For example, in mango orchards, growers would typically spray pesticides 15-25 times in a season to combat fruit fly infestations. but with fruit bagging, they could reduce it to 2-3 applications. Dr. Hossain has also developed successful IPM packages for vegetable crops such as tomatoes, eggplants and beans using pheromone traps, botanicals and biopesticides. He has been instrumental in disseminating these successful IPM packages throughout Bangladesh, and regularly conducts trainings for farmers and growers.
Award of Recognition (IPM Practitioner – Non-academic)
Mr. Leon Lucas, District Manager, Glades Crop Care Inc. will receive the International IPM Award of Recognition (IPM Practitioner – Non-Academic). Mr. Lucas began implementing IPM in 1986 and remains on the cutting edge. He focuses on fresh market vegetable crops and transplant greenhouses and works on management of major pests, diseases and nutritional disorders affecting these crops. His methods of IPM implementation in the field consist of systematic scouting, collecting and documenting observations using severity keys and percentages of infestation, interpreting the observations based on thresholds, and providing recommendations and solutions for clients. Mr. Lucas is noted as a great team player, and over the years, he has positively influenced dozens of agricultural professionals. Clients have come to depend on him for sharing reliable, actionable and accountable information. His delivery is customized to each client’s individual needs. Mr. Lucas regularly provides clients with written scouting reports, photos, and recommendations along with face to face consultations. He maintains availability for his clients by phone nearly 24/7. He also prepares summaries at the end of each season and conducts valuable review meetings with clients to help them learn from the season and carry helpful lessons into the upcoming season. Mr. Lucas’s career has stellar examples of positive impact through pest reduction and pursuit of pesticide alternatives and for his contributions, he was awarded the Friends of Southern IPM Award in 2017.
Awards of Recognition (IPM Team)
The Prairie Pest Monitoring Network (PPMN), Canada will receive the International IPM Award of Recognition (IPM Team). Over the last 23 years, the Prairie Pest Monitoring Network (PPMN) has been involved in the development of monitoring protocols and the coordination of field crop insect population surveillance across three Prairie Provinces. Through a unique collaboration and partnership with provincial specialists and industry, the information collected and processed is disseminated as pest incidence and risk forecasting tools to inform sound pest management decisions in a timely manner and also to support bioclimatic modelling. The consistent collection of ~6000 insect population surveillance data points annually and effectively using them to time deployment of management measures is one of the best outcomes of this program. The PPMN blog is immensely popular and has an ‘insect of the week’ feature, which links to the field guide “Field Crop and Forage Pests and their Natural Enemies in Western Canada” a publication supported by the PPMN. Featuring natural enemies as ‘insect of the week’ helped growers learn more about the diversity of insects within their fields and the value in making sound pest management decisions to preserve diversity while managing economic pests.
Honeybear Brands, Minnesota will receive the International IPM Award of Recognition (IPM Team). Ten years ago, the Honeybear group adopted ‘TruEarth’, an advanced Integrated Pest Management (IPM) program developed by the IPM Institute of North America that reduces pesticide use and related risks for apples grown in this region. As a result, all certified suppliers with Honeybear conduct and document pest and disease monitoring throughout the season to inform pest management decisions and implement economic thresholds and avoid use of high risk pesticides (with limited exceptions for managing the brown marmorated stink bug). Growers also take steps to protect pollinators from potential exposure to pesticides and improve worker safety by using personal protective equipment which exceeds US EPA minimum requirements. Honeybear believes that the transparency regarding pesticide use across the supply chain is their biggest success. This has been made possible by the TruEarth program, which also enabled them to bring the latest in IPM technology to small scale fruit producing regions in Wisconsin and Minnesota, where growers tend to be late adopters of new practices.
Center for Biological Control (CBC) IPM Team, Florida A&M University will receive the International IPM Award of Recognition (IPM Team). Since 2010, the CBC IPM team has been instrumental in the development and implementation of Integrated Pest Management (IPM) in vegetables, small fruits and communities in North Florida. The team’s collaborative activities resulted in a substantial increase in the number of underrepresented and minority students receiving experiential IPM research training in undergraduate and graduate programs. In addition to students in Entomology, students from fields such as Animal Science, Food Science, Pharmacy, Nursing, Agribusiness, Horticulture, Agronomy, and Plant Science were represented. Another excellent outcome is that an increased number of underrepresented small-scale growers, backyard / urban gardeners, organic farmers, and the public have benefited from the team’s research and outreach activities. Small-scale growers were able to reduce pesticides usage by 20-35%.
Award for Outstanding Ph.D. Student
Ms. Uta McKelvy, Montana State University, will receive the Outstanding Ph.D. Student award for her work on agronomic management techniques for management of arthropods and viral diseases in wheat. What makes Ms. McKelvy’s research project stand out is that it investigates the interconnectedness of two major disease and insect problems in the northern Great Plains and considers complex dynamics between the two. A major outcome of her research efforts is the online learning tool called AWaRe – Assessment of Wheat streak mosaic Risk. This tool is designed to assist growers in understanding factors contributing to disease risk and empower them to make informed management decisions. Ms. McKelvy has already authored several publications, showcased her research at regional and international professional meetings and is the recipient of numerous student awards and honors. She is active in extracurricular activities and has a passion for science communication and fostering a community of scientific exchange.
Award applications were evaluated based on the USDA NIFA IPM Roadmap. This document, developed in 2002 and revised in 2018 by the United States Department of Agriculture National Institute of Food and Agriculture (USDA NIFA) and its stakeholders, provides direction for people who specialize in integrated pest management (IPM) through research, use of new technology and measurement of success in management of all types of pests, including but not limited to agricultural, structural, veterinary, ornamental, forest and public health pests.