Posts Tagged: Frank Zalom

IPM specialist Frank Zalom to address global IPM group in Berlin

October 5, 2011

DAVIS — Integrated pest management (IPM) specialist Frank Zalom, professor and former vice chair of the UC Davis Department of Entomology and soon-to-be president of the 6000-member Entomological Society of America, is one of three Americans invited to speak at an international IPM workshop, Oct. 16-19, in Berlin, Germany.

Zalom, invited by the Federal Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Consumer Protection of Germany, will speak on “Stimulating Use of Professional IPM Consultants in Agriculture, Benefits for Farmers and Society,” on Monday, Oct. 17.

The event is sponsored by the Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD), which helps governments of the developed countries tackle the economic, social and governance challenges of a globalized economy. The OECD is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year.

At the OECD workshop, to be held in the Julius Kuhn Institute, Federal Research Center for Cultivated Plants, invitees will develop recommendations related to the workshop themes,  adoption and implementation of IPM in agriculture, contributing to the sustainable use of pesticides and to pesticide-risk reduction.

Wolfgang Zornback, chair of the OECD Working Group on Pesticides, German Federal Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Consumer Protection, will welcome the group.

The speakers will include noted IPM specialists from Australia, Denmark, Canada, Germany, Japan, Korea, New Zealand, The Netherlands and the UK. About 100 participants were either nominated by their governments or invited by the OECD. Half of the participants will include government representatives working on pesticide regulation, and half of the participants will include representatives from international/regional organizations: European Commission, Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), European and Mediterranean Plant Protection Organization (EPPO), International Organization for Biological Control (IOBC), bio-pesticide industries, environmental and consumer organizations and academia.

Americans joining Zalom in Berlin will be Tom Green of the US/IPM Institute of North America in Madison, Wis., who will discuss  “IPM in U.S. Schools: Challenges, Opportunities and Implications for  IPM in Agriculture” and James VanKirk of the Southern Region IPM Center, North Carolina State University, who will address  “IPM Pest Information Platform for Extension and Education.”

The OECD workshop will conclude with a visit to the German chancellery.

Zalom will begin a four-year commitment to the Entomological Society of America (ESA) this fall when he will be inducted as vice president-elect at the organization’s 59th annual meeting set Nov. 13-16 in Reno. He will subsequently move up to vice president and president and then serve a year fulfilling the duties of past president. The UC Davis entomologist will become president at the end of the 2013 annual meeting and then will serve as president at the 2014 meeting in Portland, Ore.

Zalom has been heavily involved in research and leadership in integrated pest management (IPM) activities at the state, national and international levels. He directed the UC Statewide IPM Program for 16 years (1986 -2001) and is currently experiment station co-chair of the Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities (APLU) National IPM Committee.

Zalom focuses his research on California specialty crops, including tree crops (almonds, olives, prunes, peaches), small fruits (grapes, strawberries, caneberries), and fruiting vegetables (tomatoes), as well as international IPM programs.

The IPM strategies and tactics Zalom has developed include monitoring procedures, thresholds, pest development and population models, biological controls and use of less toxic pesticides, which have become standard in practice and part of the UC IPM Guidelines for these crops.

In his three decades with the UC Davis Department of Entomology, Zalom has published almost 300 refereed journal articles and book chapters, and 340 technical and extension articles. The articles span a wide range of topics related to IPM, including  invasive species management, biological control, insect population dynamics, pesticide runoff mitigation, impacts and management of newer, soft insecticides, development of economic thresholds and sampling methods,  and determination of insect host feeding and oviposition preferences.

The Zalom lab has responded to six important pest invasions in the last decade, with research projects on glassy-winged sharpshooter, olive fruit fly, a new biotype of greenhouse whitefly, invasive saltcedar, light brown apple moth, and the spotted wing Drosophila.

Zalom is a fellow of ESA, American Association for the Advancement of Science, and the California Academy of Sciences.

Highly honored for his work,  Zalom received the Entomological Foundation’s 2010 “Award for Excellence in IPM,” an award sponsored by Syngenta Crop Protection and given for “the most outstanding contributions to IPM.” In 2008 he was part of a team receiving an International IPM “Excellence Award” at the sixth International IPM Symposium. Also in 2008, Zalom was part of the seven-member UC Almond Pest Management Alliance IPM Team that received the Entomological Foundation’s "Award for Excellence in IPM.” The Pacific Branch of the ESA awarded Zalom its greatest honor, the C. W. Woodworth Award, in 2011.

Master Gardener criticizes LBAM program

Annie Spiegelman, author of the gardening book "Talking Dirty" and a Master Gardener for UC Cooperative Extension in Marin County, wrote an opinion piece published today in the Huffington Post that mocked CDFA's and USDA's past efforts to eradicate the Light Brown Apple Moth in California.

The author seemed particularly incensed by aerial spraying of pheromones, which was part of the eradication program. In fact, the story was posted with a photo illustration showing a crowded Santa Cruz Boardwalk and beach with a plane releasing a huge white cloud overhead.

In her article, Spiegelman questioned why, during an immense fiscal crisis, $89.5 million was spent to eliminate from the state what she referred to as a "garden variety" and "humdrum" brown moth.

"So I clipped on my Master Gardener trowel-shaped lapel pin and gave the senior entomology faculty at the University of California, Davis, a jingle to see why my tax dollars were being used to stamp out the lackluster 'Light Brown Apple Moth," Spiegelman wrote.

The author noted that UC Davis entomology professors James Carey and Bruce Hammock and UC Davis Cooperative Extension entomology specialist Frank Zalom wrote to Governor Schwarzenegger in 2008 expressing their concern with the planned moth eradication program.

In their letter they said data showing the moth would become more important than other pests already in the state are unconvincing, and there is no scientific evidence that mating disruption is capable of eradicating any insect population.

In a conversation with Spiegelman, Carey reiterated the point that LBAM is not a serious pest.

"And even if it was a more serious pest, there is zero chance to eradicate it," Carey was quoted in the article. "Eradication is not possible because you're not eradicating an LBAM population but you're trying to eradicate 100,000 LBAM populations. There are millions of pockets of these and each pocket has a separate population."

Zalom told the writer he believes naturally occurring biological control agents will become increasingly important for control of LBAM.

"LBAM will eventually be considered an occasional pest that growers need to be aware of and one, which on occasion will require intervention. It seems to be no greater a threat than a suite of other insect pests that already occur locally," Zalom was quoted.

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