Agronomy Webinar | Strategies for Effective Integrated Pest Management in Staple Crop Production
the chair
11th Agronomy Webinar
Strategies for Effective Integrated Pest Management in Staple Crop Production>
It is my pleasure to welcome you to this webinar organized by Agronomy, dedicated to the “Strategies for Effective Integrated Pest Management in Staple Crop Production”
The increasing demand for staple crops to feed a world population, expected to reach near 10 billion in 2050, requires sustainable pest control strategies not only to reach high crop yields, but also to preserve the environment and the whole beneficial entomofauna in the production agroecosystem. The overreliance on chemical insecticides has raised serious concerns over their negative side effects. Thus, integrated pest management (IPM) is the best way to protect yield through integrating different pest control tools, based on plant resistance (including Bt cultivars); adoption of economic thresholds (ETs); pest-monitoring procedures; use of selective insecticides, biological control, botanical insecticides; RNAi; and CRISPR-based control strategies, among other sustainable alternatives of managing arthropods population into agroecosystems. Therefore, innovative research on integrated pest management in different staple crops is urgently needed. Consequently, Agronomy is promoting this webinar to discuss the most recent innovations in arthropod control to sustainably manage their outbreaks in those agroecosystems (staple crops), bringing research from the laboratory to applied in the field to make food production more efficient and sustainable.
Time: 12:00 pm CDT | 1:00 pm EDT | 7:00 pm CEST
Meet the Event Chair
Meet Our Speakers
Dr. Weidson Plauter Sutil
Universidade Federal do Paraná—UFPR, Curitiba, Paraná, Brazil;
Weidson Plauter Sutil is a biologist with a master’s degree in Agronomy from the Federal University of Acre (UFAC) and a Ph.D. in Entomology from the Federal University of Paraná (UFPR) in Brazil. During his doctoral studies, he completed a six-month research period at the University of Catania, Italy, under the supervision of Professor Antonio Biondi, focusing on pest management using essential oils. Currently, he is a postdoctoral researcher at Embrapa Soybean and serves as a young member of the Entomological Society of Brazil. His research focuses on the biological control of insect pests in soybean and maize production systems, with particular emphasis on augmentative biological control using egg parasitoids, as well as the use of essential oils as a sustainable alternative strategy for pest management.
Dr. Yelitza Coromoto Colmenarez
CABI-UNESP-FEPAF, Rua José Barbosa de Barros, Botucatu, Brazil;
Dr. Yelitza Colmenarez is an Agricultural Engineer graduated from the Universidad Centroccidental Lisandro Alvarado (UCLA), Venezuela, and holds both a master’s and a Ph.D. in Plant Protection from São Paulo State University (UNESP), Botucatu, Brazil.
She began her career at CABI in 2005 in Switzerland and was later transferred to the CABI center in Trinidad and Tobago, where she worked as a project coordinator in Integrated Pest Management across Latin America and the Caribbean.
She served as President of IOBC-NTRS from 2014 to 2018. Currently, she is the Director of the CABI Centre for Latin America, based in Brazil, and serves as Regional Coordinator of the Plantwise program for Latin America and the Caribbean.
Dr. Colmenarez is a specialist in sustainable production, biological control, and integrated pest and disease management, applying participatory approaches in agricultural extension and research. She has experience working with a wide range of crops, including cotton, maize, potato, vegetables, and tropical fruits. At CABI, she leads and coordinates international cooperation projects in the agricultural and environmental sectors across multiple countries in Latin America and the Caribbean, with a focus on promoting sustainable production systems and strengthening food security.
Sponsors and Partners
Organizer
The full recording can be found below. In order to learn about future webinars, you can sign up to our newsletter by clicking “Subscribe” at the top of the page.
Strategies for Effective Integrated Pest Management in Staple Crop Production
Edited by Dr. Adeney De Freitas Bueno (Guest Editor) and Dr. Weidson Plauter Sutil (Guest Editor Assistant)
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 August 2026