Learning Opportunity: Quality Assessment of Biocontrol Agents

By Nick Matysik|February 2, 2026

Biological control agents (or biocontrols) are a large part of the modern grower’s integrated pest management (IPM) portfolio. However, it can often be difficult to properly assess the effectiveness of different biocontrols to ensure they’re the right fit for your crop of choice and operation as a whole.

American Floral Endowment‘s upcoming webinar, scheduled for Tuesday, Feb. 17, 2026, as part of its ongoing Grow Pro series, will cover the importance and practices related to the quality assessment of biological control agents, including entomopathogenic nematodes, predatory mites, and parasitoids. Topics of the webinar will include:

How to ensure the success of a biological control program.
Learning to conduct assessments on predatory mites, whiteflies, and more agents.
The importance of quality assessment on biocontrols.

The featured speaker for “Quality Assessment of Biological Control Agents” is Dr. Raymond Cloyd, Professor and Extension Specialist in Horticultural Entomology/Plant Protection at Kansas State University. Cloyd received his MS and Ph.D. from the Department of Entomology at Purdue University and was employed as a professor in the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences at the University of Illinois prior to his work at Kansas State. His current research and extension programs focus on plant protection and pest management regarding:

Cannabis
Christmas trees
Fruits
Hemp
Interiorscapes
Pollinators
Vegetables
And more!

Willing participants can register for the webinar directly through Zoom or by visiting the Grow Pro Webinar series page on the AFE website, where information on future webinars in the series can be found. Recordings of all past Grow Pro webinars can also be found on the AFE’s YouTube channel.