Learn a science-based strategy that seeks to integrate beneficial insects for natural pest control at a March 23 hosted by Nebraska Extension.

The one-day course, Farming with Beneficial Insects for Pest Control, is being conducted by the Xeres Society for Invertebrate Conservation and will be held at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Agricultural Research and Development Center near Ithaca. The program will be from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Thursday, March 23.

Further details about the program and speakers is available on the course pre-registration webpage at https://tinyurl.com/xerces-NE. Pre-registration is due by March 16. Cost is $45 per person.

Instructors will include Thelma Heidel-Baker, conservation biocontrol specialist, and  Jennifer Hopwood, senior pollinator specialist, both with the Xerces Society, and Julie Peterson, Nebraska Extension entomologist.

Course topics will include:

• Importance of beneficial insects
• Overview of conservation biological control
• Assessing on-farm habitat needs and habitat deficiencies for beneficial insects
• Designing and implementing on-farm habitat
• Minimizing impacts of pesticides and other farm practices to beneficial insects
• USDA programs that support beneficial insect conservation

Beneficial insects contribute to natural pest suppression, potentially saving $4.5 billion annually in pesticide costs. Conservation biological control is a science-based pest management strategy that seeks to integrate beneficial insects back into cropping systems for natural pest control.

Course participants will receive the Xerces Society’s Conservation Biological Control Toolkit which includes Xerces’ book, Farming With Native Beneficial Insects, as well as habitat management guidelines and relevant USDA-NRCS and extension publications.

Lunch is not included in the registration and organizers invite participants to bring a sack lunch.

Please feel free to share this program flyer with others who may be interested.