[Conference Preview] Taking it to the Speedway

Featuring new and practical applications of pest management and focusing on the global theme “Pest Management Around the World,” the 10th Fumigants & Pheromones International Conference and Workshop will be held May 16-18, 2012, in Indianapolis.

In addition to the two days of global expert presentations on protecting stored food, grain, wood, tobacco, structures and fiber under varied conditions and regulations, the conference will include a third day of hands-on workshops with field demonstrations of practical applications.

Since the first meeting in Lübeck, Germany, in 1993, the conference, which is organized by Insects Limited and Fumigation Service & Supply, has followed the guiding principle of “Sharing through Education.” In 2012, the conference continues to build on its global roots offering an international perspective on stored product protection through speakers from areas as diverse as Nigeria, Poland, Argentina, Greece, Croatia and the United States.

“It promises to be different from any educational conference you have ever attended,” said Conference Chairman David Mueller. With Mueller, the conference organizing committee includes Barbara Bass, Patrick Kelley, Alain VanRyckeghem, Peter Swords, Mary Beth Mueller, Peggy Rutkowski and Francie Mueller.

The conference, being held at the University Place Conference Center on the campus of Purdue University and Indiana University in downtown Indianapolis, will begin with keynote speaker Dr. Gebisa Ejeta, World Food Prize Laureate, from Purdue University, U.S./Ethiopia, who will explain how his research has reduced hunger in marginal growing regions in the world.

Days one and two will continue in lecture format. Speakers from Africa, Europe and North America will describe how they perform their jobs under varied conditions and regulations. In addition, the breaks, a gala dinner and open evenings will offer an opportunity to meet others from at least 30 countries on six continents with common interests.

The third day will literally transport attendees from description to demonstration, as buses take participants to workshop sites where multiple fumigations will be in various stages of completion. Attendees will have a chance to talk with fumigators as they perform their specialized jobs: warehouse fumigation, container quarantine fumigation and grain fumigations with EcoFume, HDS System and VaporPhos. There will be a focus on sulfuryl fluoride (ProFume gas fumigant), demonstration of the new Fast multi-fumigant scrubber and visits to a pheromone laboratory and a retail store to hear from experts on advanced uses of mating disruption and pheromone mass trapping.

In addition to the educational sessions, conference participants will get a chance to be a part of Indianapolis’ hallmark tradition — the Indy 500 — at the gala dinner to be held inside the Indianapolis 500 Motor Speedway and Hall of Fame Museum in the middle of the raceway. The dinner will include a narrated trip around the track, a stop at the Indy 500 Speedway finish line bricks and reliving of the 100 years of history of the Indy 500. Bus travel to the Speedway will be provided.
 

For more information or to register, visit www.insectslimited.com or call Barbara Bass or Peggy Rutkowski at 317/896-9300.