AgriLife IPM Professionals Receive Recognition
by Steve Byrns, Agnews
July 22, 2008
THE WOODLANDS — The excellence of the Texas AgriLife Extension Service’s integrated pest management program was recognized recently with three awards presented during the 87th Texas Pecan Growers Association’s annual conference.
The July 13-16 conference was held at The Woodlands.
Honorees were the Texas AgriLife integrated pest management program, (also known as IPM) team, Dr. John Jackman, Dr. Marvin Harris and Bill Ree.
All were honored by their peers for their educational efforts in integrated pest management in the southern U.S., according to Dr. Tom Fuchs, AgriLife Extension integrated pest management leader for Texas. Fuchs participated in the conference and accepted the award for Outstanding State IPM Program.
“I was very proud to be able to represent our AgriLife Extension team in accepting the Outstanding State IPM Program Award,” Fuchs said. “This is the first time this award has been presented, so it is indeed an honor.”
The awards were presented by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Southern Region IPM Center located at North Carolina State University. The center represents land grant university scientists from 13 Southern states, the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico.
In addition to the Outstanding State IPM Award, the Southern Region IPM Center presented the IPM Teacher Award to Harris and Ree for their outstanding work in pecan integrated pest management. Harris is an entomology professor in the department of entomology at Texas A&M University at College Station, and Ree is an AgriLife Extension program specialist located at Bryan.
“Through their IPM teaching efforts which emphasize the wise use of pesticides only when necessary, Texas pecan growers have realized a 35 percent reduction in insecticide use and a 30 percent reduction in fungicide use, resulting in an estimated $4.4 million annual cost savings compared to levels used in the early 1980s,” Fuchs said. “This is a major accomplishment, not only economically, but also environmentally.”
Jackman, an AgriLife Extension entomologist at College Station, was awarded the inaugural Friends of IPM Lifetime Achievement Award, which is given by the group for years of significant contributions to integrated pest management work in the southern region.
Jackman’s honor stemmed from his pioneering efforts in using computers for providing educational materials and predicting insect outbreak problems, and for later using the Worldwide Web to expand his and others' educational programming.
The Texas Integrated Pest Management Program is operated as a private/public partnership involving the Texas A&M University System and its agencies and the Texas Pest Management Association, which is made up largely of growers. The IPM program operates 28 units across the state. Twenty-three of the units address agricultural crops, four deal primarily with urban issues and one coordinates the IPM in Schools program. For more information on Jackman and his work, go to: http://insects.tamu.edu . For general information on integrated pest management, go to: http://ipm.tamu.edu
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