The 77th Texas A&M University Urban Pest Management Conference and Workshop will be held Jan. 11-13 at the Brazos Center, 3232 Briarcrest Drive, Bryan.
The event, co-sponsored by the Texas A&M AgriLife Research and the Texas A&M College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Department of Entomology, will cover continuing education unit topics on Jan. 11-12. Three special workshops will be offered on Jan. 13.
New for this year’s conference is a two-part registration system. All participants must complete both parts to be eligible to attend.
The cost is $225 until Jan. 10 at 8 a.m. To start the registration process, go to https://tx.ag/PestConference. The cost is $275 for onsite registration.
Onsite registration will begin at 7 a.m. on Jan. 11. The conference will run from 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Jan. 11-12. A social will follow the first day’s conference. The Jan. 13 workshops will be from 8 a.m. to noon.
The event will also offer conference participants the Associate Certified Entomologist, ACE, Review Course and proctoring for those individuals who wish to sit for the exam. Those wishing to take the exam must sign up in advance of the event with the Entomological Society of America to prequalify to become ACE candidates.
There will also be numerous Texas Department of Agriculture continuing education units for license holders. Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service experts will join the panel of speakers, as well as outside experts. For a complete list of available CEUs with their categories and presenters, go to the conference schedule on the website.
“There’s an amazing group of AgriLife Research and AgriLife Extension experts who will be speaking at the conference, in addition to the ACE Review and exam and a technician training,” said Janet Hurley, AgriLife Extension integrated pest management specialist, Dallas. “This event will have two full days of CEU speakers, including Dr. Faith Oi, who is an associate Extension scientist at the University of Florida who specializes in urban entomology.”
Conference topics
The topics scheduled for Jan. 11 include: laws and regulations update, on the job safety, ACE program, landscape pests and hot topics in urban entomology. There will also be an exhibitor’s forum.
The second day of the conference will feature: a technician talk, spiders, structural fumigation, weeds, mosquito management, rodent management, stored product pests and commodity fumigation. There will also be an expert panel and student presentations.
Technician training course, specialty workshops
On Jan. 12, an eight-hour technician training course taught by Don Renchie, Ph.D., AgriLife Extension program leader and coordinator for the pesticide safety education program, Bryan-College Station, will be from 8 a.m. to noon.
The training will be at the Rollins Urban and Structural Entomology Facility at Texas A&M University, Rollins Building, 2556 F and B Road, College Station.
The three specialty workshops on Jan. 13 will be an Ant Workshop at the Rollins Urban and Structural Entomology Facility; a Rodent Workshop at the Hildebrand Equine Complex, 3240 F and B Road; and a Fumigation Workshop at the ScottsMiracle-Gro Facility, 3100 F and B Road.
