Entomolgy Graduate Student Awarded Southern SARE Grant to Study Silverleaf Whitefly by Andrine Stanhope
Silverleaf whitefly is a serious pest that greatly impacts tomato growers in Florida. Given the state’s humid subtropical environment and warm average annual temperature, insect pest and diseases pressure are constant and can be intense at times. Unlike other more temperate tomato and pepper producing areas, the majority of Florida’s growing regions do not experience hard freezes, a factor that helps to regulate pest populations. As a result, pest control for Florida growers surpass those, encountered in many other growing regions. Jermaine Perier, entomology graduate student in the College of Agriculture and Food Sciences (CAFS) at Florida A&M University (FAMU), was awarded the 2018 Southern Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education grant in the amount of $16,000 to evaluate the use of biopesticides to manage the silverleaf whitefly affecting tomatoes grown in Florida. “The grant will permit me to study the use of more environmentally friendly and sustainable methods, such as biopesticides to control this pest, as the conventional methods use toxic chemicals, which can have a negative impact on our environment,” Perrier said. “The study will provide sustainable solutions to Florida’s tomato growers to aid in increasing productivity and profitability by providing an effective pest management option.” Conventional pesticides are synthetic chemicals that generally work by killing or inactivating a pest. Biopesticides, on the other hand, are naturally occurring bioactive organisms or substances. Biopesticides may directly kill harmful organisms, or they may work directly by interfering with reproduction or simply repel pests with substances they don’t like. They tend to decompose quickly and leave fewer residues on food and in the environment. Other benefits of using biopesticides over conventional chemicals are that they are less toxic, effective in small quantities and less likely for the crop to become resistant to its use.
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F l or id a A &M Uni v er s i t y
