Northeast Greenhouse Conference Will Offer Educational Sessions on Greenhouse BioControls

​Northeast Greenhouse Conference and Expo will feature educational sessions on using greenhouse biological controls on November 4, 2021.  

• How to Handle and Release a Variety of Beneficial Arthropods for Greenhouse Biocontrol, including Mistakes to Avoid. John Sanderson, Cornell University 
• Upcoming Challenges in Biocontrol/ BCA Compatibility with Traditional Products, Ron Valentin, Bioworks, Inc. 
• Keep Yourself up to Date with What's Happening in Pest Management (including new biocontrol products, techniques, and tools to help with your IPM program). Suzanne Wainwright- Evans, Buglady Consulting 

​Meet the presenters   

John Sanderson has been a professor in the Department of Entomology at Cornell University for over 30 years.  He has research/extension responsibilities for arthropod pest management on greenhouse crops, with an emphasis on biological and integrated control.  He has done research on every serious greenhouse pest and most of the predators, parasitoids, and pathogens used against them.  John has given numerous talks at many of the major national and regional greenhouse grower conferences, and published articles in major trade magazines.  His primary goal is to help growers accomplish cost-effective, sustainable management of the pests that plague greenhouse crops.

Ronald Valentin was born in the heart of the greenhouse industry in the Netherlands. His family owned a greenhouse operation and his father started using biological control in 1971. At a very young age Ronald developed an interest for the “bugs” and as a teenager he was managing and producing the biological control agents for the family greenhouse operation. After finishing his education in crop protection management, biochemistry, and vegetable production at State Secondary College of Agriculture in De Lier the Netherland, he embarked on a career in biological control in 1986. After working in biological control technical support in the Netherlands and several other European countries, he came to Canada for his first visit in 1996. After traveling to Canada once every 6 to 7 weeks in 1996 and 1997 he immigrated to Canada in December 1997. In March 2004 he became a Canadian Citizen. Over the years Ronald has worked with many growers to set up sustainable and effective pest management programs with as a focus to use BCA’s as a first line of defense. He also has trained and managed technical support teams in Europe, Canada, and the USA. Ronald is currently Director of Technical Business, BCA at BioWorks, out of Victor, NY. Ronald is very passionate about making an IPM and biological control approach work for every grower as well as reducing the use of pesticides for the better of the environment and the future.

Suzanne Wainwright-Evans is a horticultural entomologist specializing in integrated pest management. Suzanne has been involved in the Green Industry for more than 25 years with a primary focus on biological control and using pesticides properly. She is a graduate of the University of Florida with degrees in both Entomology and Environmental Horticulture. Suzanne is the owner of Buglady Consulting, now in business for over 20 years providing expert horticultural entomological consulting and seminars to commercial growers.  All client recommendations are made to promote the health of plants while being ecologically minded. The full use of natural and reduced risk pesticides, organic and cultural control practices and methods are used while focusing on biological control.

The biennial Northeast Greenhouse Conference & Expo is co-sponsored by New England Floriculture, Inc. - a group of grower representatives from the Northeast, augmented by University and Cooperative Extension staff in each state who specialize in greenhouse crops and management. 

Exhibit space and sponsorship opportunities are available. Learn more or reserve your space here.  Contact Karen Forbes at [email protected].  The full program is posted on the NEGC website.  Attendee registration is open in August.