Symposium to Explore a Vision for IPM's Future

This spring, experts, practitioners, and enthusiasts from around the country will gather to share the latest developments and cutting edge methods in integrated pest management (IPM). IPM is an approach to solving pest problems with environmentally sound, economically viable, and socially acceptable methods. The symposium will launch a renewed vision for IPM in the United States for both agricultural and community arenas.

IPM successes include the reduction of pesticide use in agriculture, the elimination of high-risk pesticides in schools, and the development of a growing list of alternative, reduced-risk pesticides derived from plants, soil microbes, and other biological sources.

The Fourth National Integrated Pest Management Symposium will be held April 8-10, 2003, in Indianapolis, Indiana, with a theme of “Building Alliances for the Future of IPM.” This national, comprehensive IPM event, first held in 1992, invites participants from a wide variety of disciplines, including public health, weed science, plant pathology, vertebrate management, entomology, nematology, horticulture, agronomy, communications, economics, and sociology, to share their IPM experiences and expertise. The information and networking opportunities will be invaluable for all who are working toward reducing pesticide risk, producing healthier food, improving community health and safety, making farms more profitable, and raising awareness about highly effective, least-risk pest management practices. Those who attend can expect to come away with new ideas and a fresh perspective on twenty-first-century pest management.

More than 70 seminars and workshops will cover an impressive array of topics, including marketing IPM goods and services to consumers; educating school children about IPM; managing invasive foreign pests; evaluating the impact of IPM on farm economics, farm workers, and environmental health; and the latest in high-tech IPM techniques, including information technologies, biological control, and low-risk pesticides. In addition to structured presentations and discussions, poster sessions will provide opportunities for participants to interact informally to share research and implementation results, challenges, and successful strategies.

The conference will also feature optional outings, both educational (such as a tour of a golf course that practices IPM techniques) and recreational. Indianapolis has enjoyed a revitalization and renaissance over the past decade, offering a wonderful balance of big-city style and genuine Hoosier hospitality.

Plan now to attend this important event. For more information, visit the symposium web site (www.conted. uiuc.edu/ipm). Register online or contact Elaine Wolff (217-333-2881; fax: 217-333-9561; ipmsymposium@ ad.uiuc.edu) to confirm your participation. Opportunities remain for organizations and businesses to exhibit at the conference or to join the financial sponsors, which include the U.S. Department of Agriculture, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Campbell Soup Company, Del Monte Fresh Foods, Welch’s National Grape Cooperative, CropLife Inc., and others.