SPEAKERS:            Dr. Tony Shelton, Professor, Entomology
Brian Caldwell, Field Manager, Cornell’s Organic Cropping Systems Project
DATE:                     Wednesday, March 17
TIME:                      12:20 – 1:10 p.m.
PLACE:                    135 Emerson Hall

Refreshments provided.

Genetic engineering of crops is being done at present primarily for pest management, but there are different views on its effectiveness and place in agriculture.  Brian Caldwell will show how genetic modification of crops creates genetic pollution and how their commercialization and infrastructure worsen, rather than solve, food system problems.  He will advocate that approaches which rely on local resources and whole farm management will be more successful. Tony Shelton suggests the foundation of Integrated Pest Management (IPM) is the use of host plant resistance (HPR), and genetic engineering (GE) expands this opportunity.  He will show that the present insect-resistant GE crops control key pests while dramatically reducing the use of harmful insecticides and can be a component of whole farm management and local food systems, both in the context of domestic and international agriculture.

Tony Shelton is a Professor of Entomology and a CALS International Professor who works on developing IPM strategies for insects on vegetables and other crops.  His program focuses on insect population ecology, biological control, plant resistance, agricultural biotechnology, insecticide resistance, trap cropping, and plant productivity and marketability as a function of insect infestations.

Brian Caldwell is field manager for Cornell’s Organic Cropping Systems Project.  He also operates a small certified organic apple orchard.  He is co-author, with Tony Shelton and others, of The Resource Guide for Organic Insect and Disease Management.

Co-sponsored by the Departments of Crop and Soil Sciences, Natural Resources, and Applied Economics and Management