Five Trends Shaping Greenhouse Crop Protection Strategies
April 9, 2026 Janna Beckerman is a national ornamentals technical specialist at Envu, and prior to joining Envu, she was a professor of plant pathology for almost 25 years at Purdue University and the University of Minnesota. She focuses on developing environmentally sound pest management strategies that are economically feasible for growers and pest managers of ornamentals.
This past experience has given Beckerman the chance to work closely with growers from across the industry and learn more about their biggest challenges. In a recent conversation with Greenhouse Grower Editor Brian Sparks, Beckerman shares five trends shaping modern grower crop protection strategies.
A Balanced Pest Management Approach
“One of the frequent discussion points within our team is trying to make sure our products fit in nicely with growers who choose to use both biological control agents (BCAs) and natural chemistries. We are seeing more growers using BCAs, and of course you don’t want your materials taking them out. Fortunately, I think our insecticides have a pretty good portfolio. They are developed and tested internally and externally, and these evaluations have shown that many of our products having minimal effect on beneficials.”
You Can’t Address a Problem Until You Know What the Problem Is
“When a grower has a problem with whiteflies, for example, it’s critical to know which species of whitefly they’re dealing with. We recognize that some of our products may perform better against certain species of whitefly than others, so knowing the species helps us make the right recommendation on which products to use, whether it’s one of our products or not.
I see people who recommend only biological controls to the exclusion of everything else. I also see people who recommend pesticides to the exclusion of everything else. We want to be somewhere in the middle – that’s what integrated pest management truly means.”
The Challenge of Training and Communication
“Ornamental growers today are not only dealing with labor shortages; they’re also facing the challenge of properly training their workforce, or even losing them to other growing operations. When people on a team have different types of expertise and when teams speak multiple languages, identifying pests, scouting accurately, and sharing what they see can become inconsistent and even stressful. This just makes it harder for everyone to stay aligned AND act quickly and appropriately. Turning those answers into actionable results doesn’t come as easy when there’s a communication gap.”
The Work Behind the Innovation
“I think there’s a lot of great innovation taking place in this industry, but facilitating the adoption of these technologies can be a challenge. There’s a lot of time and effort, and a lot of cost, that goes into developing new products, and I don’t think we always do a good job explaining that. Before we can even introduce a new product to the market, it needs to be tested on different pests and on different plants. It’s time consuming, but it’s the only way that we can make the right recommendations. In addition, because of the current challenges faced by university Extension programs, we aren’t seeing as much external research-based evaluations. This work that had been done at the university level was important because it held us accountable to what we were claiming in terms of product efficacy. That could be a challenge moving forward.”
A Bright Future
“What excites me the most about the future of this industry is that it’s always evolving – just like the pests and pathogens we manage. We are coming out with a new fungicide with a new mode of action this year that we hope will be a game changer for Pythium and Phytophthora control. Beyond that, we’re also seeing a lot of new people coming into the industry, and the way they view IPM is often much different than those who came before them. There’s a learning curve and you have to be patient both with yourself and with those you may be training. But this change is exciting.”
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