On the Cornell campus, there are about 12 departments that contribute to IPM, so these coordinators work with many faculty and staff with an eye to implementation of IPM methods. A second position titled Extension IPM Area Educators was created to bolster and lead IPM extension efforts in key regions of the state. These positions were similar to other Extension Area Educators, already at work leading other forms of educational outreach. Part of the responsibility of these Area Educators is to work in partnership with industry representatives, such as crop consultants and biological control distributors. This is important to the future of biological control and other IPM methods because oftentimes industry either needs to know how products perform or needs to share expertise with extension.
Industry can be valuable multipliers of knowledge and technology.
Thus, even before most biological control technologies are introduced, pesticide use has been significantly lowered. Furthermore, it appears that major gains in pesticide reductions beyond this point come slowly and require even greater technical assistance. This may seem to be a rather gloomy prospect for biological control enthusiasts but it must be remembered that a significant amount of effort must still be invested in the evaluation, validation and demonstration of all biologically-based IPM methods. Some specific biological control projects that have been very successful and are now being adopted by producers are with flies in dairy barns and with insects or mites in field crops, greenhouses, apples and turf. In summary, new Cooperative Extension positions, focused on IPM including biologically-based crop protection methods, are providing new opportunities to validate biological control in commercial settings.