News and Reviews

Biological Control Conference Held in Indiana

About 115 people from 10 different states gathered at a two day conference on the biological control of insects at Purdue University in West Lafayette in early November 1995. Organized as part of NCR-125's series of rotating conferences, it was intended to explain biological control to potential practitioners. Participants heard about how biological control has become critical to pest management programs on the farm, in storage bins, in the landscape, vegetable gardens, and greenhouses. One of the more novel presentations was made by Dr. Fred Petit of the Land at EPCOT who treated participants to videos of the pests and natural enemies that are being used by Disney to control pests at their exhibits. The next conference is scheduled for Wisconsin in 1996.

New Information Bulletin on Organic Farming

The Organic Farming Research Foundation (OFRF)based in Santa Cruz, CArecently introduced its new Information Bulletin, designed primarily for the practicing organic farmer to share the results of OFRF-funded projects. Since its inception in 1990, the Foundation has awarded more than $214,000 for innovative on-farm research and education projects. [Modest proposals of $3,000 to $5,000 are encouraged. Procedures for grant applications should be requested before submitting proposals by the grant application deadlines of July 31 and January 15.]

Research projects reviewed in this inaugural issue included "Controlling Peach Brown Rot", "Producing Cotton Organically", and "Date Growing Without Malathion" (maybe not of specific interest to us Midwesterners). While the focus is not on biological control, it is mentioned as a component in some projects.

Contact OFRF at P.O. Box 440, Santa Cruz, CA 95601; (408) 426-6606; Fax (408) 426-6670 to subscribe. Although the Bulletin is free, donations are suggested to enable the group to continue to produce their newsletter.

WWW Connections

The USDA Whitefly Knowledgebase, reviewed in the January 1995 issue of this newsletter, is now available on the World Wide Web. It is located at http://gnv.ifas.ufl.edu/~ent2/wfly/index.html and contains all the information, graphics, and photographs contained in the hard-drive version. Some upgrades and additions include 256-color photographs, and links to other home pages dealing with whitefly recearch. A listing of other insect-related software, in both hard-drive and WWW versions, is located at http://gnv.ifas.ufl.edu/~ent1/software/fasulo.htm

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