[News]

Industry Icon Blanton Whitmire Dies

ST. LOUIS, Mo. — Blanton Whitmire, whose contributions to the pest control industry include founding Whitmire Research Laboratories (a BASF legacy company) and developing the innovative “crack and crevice” aerosol technology, died on May 24. Whitmire peacefully passed away surrounded by family. He was 97.

A native of North Carolina, Whitmire served the U.S. during World War II and upon returning home ventured west — to St. Louis, Mo. — where he joined his older brother Homer at Whitmire Research Laboratories. In the 1960s, Blanton developed the innovative “crack and crevice” aerosol technology, which revolutionized the pest control industry worldwide. A huge proponent of education, Whitmire created the highly acclaimed Whitmire Institute of Technology — an educational program for the industry. He also established the Blanton J. Whitmire Distinguished Professor of Structural Pest Management at North Carolina State University, an endowed position, which is currently held by Dr. Coby Schal.

In 1987, he sold Whitmire Research Laboratories through an ESOP (Employee Stock Ownership Program). Whitmire Research Laboratories eventually merged with a number of other entities, becoming Whitmire Micro-Gen Research Laboratories. The entity was acquired by BASF in 2008.

In retirement, Blanton and wife Peggy, who passed away in 2010, continued their charitable work, giving back to the community and sustaining a variety of educational, religious and environmental causes. They established endowments at numerous institutions, including Western Carolina University, St. Louis Community College and St. Louis’ Donald Danforth Plant Science Center, a non-profit scientific facility dedicated to improving the human condition through plant science. The Whitmires received the Missouri Botanical Garden’s Greensfelder Award for their support in 2004. In 2005 Whitmire received an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from Western Carolina University.

For those who would like to honor Blanton’s legacy, the family asks industry friends to consider a donation to any of the non-profits referred to at bit.ly/1GzjyDq. Visit www.pctonline.com and click on “online extras” for memories of Blanton Whitmire from his industry colleagues.

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Final Clean Water Rule Released in May

WASHINGTON — On May 27, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers finalized the Clean Water Rule, created to “clearly protect from pollution and degradation the streams and wetlands that form the foundation of the nation’s water resources.”

The proposed rule was first published in the Federal Register in April 2014 for public comment, which, after two extensions, closed in November 2014. The final rule will go into effect 60 days after the final rule is published.

As part of this ruling, the definition “waters of the U.S.” has been expanded, requiring permits for pesticide applications near any collected water, no matter how small or contained. Additionally, the final rule specifically includes language that would maintain the current status quo concerning the National Pollution Discharge Elimination System (NPDES). NPDES is a national permit program that regulates the point source discharge of pollutants and chemicals into waters of the U.S. (WOTUS).EPA has delegated NPDES authority to the states; currently 46 of the 50 states regulate NPDES permits independent of EPA.

The National Pest Management Association issued a summary and analysis of this ruling, noting that although the association does not anticipate that the final rule will have a significant impact on PMPs, NPMA “does not support regulations that potentially limit PMP tools, increase burdens or consume resources. Currently, NPDES permits are required for the application of residual pesticides directly to waters of the U.S. to prevent mosquitoes and flying insects. Increased reporting requirements for applications are generally only triggered after applications directly to WOTUS exceeds the 6,400 acre annual threshold. The definition of WOTUS has expanded, but the traditional practices of PMPs have not changed. The final rule does not change the NPDES permitting, which will continue to enable the application of pesticides directly to waters, while FIFRA remains the dominant regulatory authority for the application of pesticides.”

Since the May 27 release of the final rule, NPMA noted several high-ranking Congressional leaders have publicly denounced the rule as executive overreach and demanded Congressional action to halt the implementation. Congressional disapproval has been predominantly led by the Republican majority, but several Democrats in both the Senate and House recently have expressed disapproval of the final rule. Legislation has been introduced in both the House and Senate to address the final rule. The president would most likely veto any such bills if they reached his desk, and without stronger bipartisan support it may be difficult to get the two-thirds majority to override the president’s veto. — Brad Harbison

 

Date Book

Send your announcement at least 14 weeks in advance to jdorsch@giemedia.com. For additional dates, visit www.pctonline.com/events. July 29-Aug. 1: NPMA’s Mid-Atlantic/Carolinas Summer Conference, Myrtle Beach, S.C. Contact: NPMA, 703/352-6762 or visit www.npmapestworld.org. Aug. 18-19: Comprehensive Food Safety Course “SQF Code Edition 7.2 Implementation Course: A HACCP-Based Quality Management System,” Westwood, N.J. Contact: http://cfsfoodsafety.com/classes. Aug. 23-26: 59th Annual Conference of the Association of Structural Pest Control Regulatory Officials (ASPCRO), Harbor Beach Resort, Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Contact: www.aspcro.org. Sept. 23-24: Comprehensive Food Safety Course “The SQF Advanced Practitioner,” Westwood, N.J. Contact: http://cfsfoodsafety.com/classes. Sept. 27-30: RISE Annual Meeting, Ritz-Carlton Grande Lakes in Orlando, Fla. Contact: 202/872-3872. Oct. 20-23: PestWorld 2015, Gaylord Opryland Resort & Convention Center, Nashville, Tenn. Contact: See June 3-5. Oct. 29: Comprehensive Food Safety Course “Food Security/Defense,” Westwood, N.J. Contact: http://cfsfoodsafety.com/classes. Nov. 3-5: University of Kentucky Pest Control Short Course, Lexington, Ky. Contact: Darlene Thorpe, 859/257-5955 or dthorpe@uky.edu.

 
 

Dow to Sell Sulfuryl Fluoride to Douglas Products

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. — In May, the Dow Chemical Company signed a definitive agreement to sell its Dow AgroSciences post-harvest and structural fumigant business, sulfuryl fluoride, to Douglas Products. This transaction is expected to close in the second quarter of 2015. The divestment includes fumigants sold under the brand names Vikane and ProFume. The transaction also includes associated technology, business know-how, certain intellectual property, customer lists and contracts.

In an emailed response from a Dow spokesperson, the company noted that it “believes that this business segment has a greater opportunity to reach its full potential under a different owner and the transaction aligns to the company’s rigorous focus on streamlining our portfolio aligned to our market segment driven strategy in pursuit of rewarding shareholders.”

The Dow Chemical company developed Vikane in the late 1950s and began commercially selling the gas fumigant in 1961. The product has been used to protect more than 2 million buildings in the Gulf States, California and Hawaii. ProFume, registered by EPA in 2004, was introduced as a replacement for methyl bromide, with tolerances for dried fruits, tree nuts, cereals/small grains and small grain processed products. In 2005, ProFume’s label was expanded to include uses for food-processing facilities, pet food facilities, warehouses, shipping containers and more.

Dow AgroSciences says it has developed a stellar industry-wide reputation for its support and stewardship of Vikane and ProFume. Recently, Dow AgroSciences worked with NPMA and its members (and other non-industry groups) to block an EPA proposal that would have phased out food tolerances for sulfuryl fluoride. The industry backed an amendment to last year’s Farm Bill that directed the administrator of the EPA to exclude non-pesticidal sources of fluoride from aggregate exposure assessments required under section 408 of the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act (FFDCA) when assessing tolerances associated with residues from the pesticide.

Russ Ives, president of Troy, Mich.-based Rose Pest Solutions, whose company is involved in commodity fumigations, said he “greatly appreciated over the years the product stewardship support that Dow has provided with sulfuryl fluoride. They have been a great resource for us. I am hopeful that Douglas will demonstrate that same type of product support and user support in this market that is not only important to us — as a service provider — but is really very critical to the food supply and also to the protection of business and residential structures.”

Douglas Products, based in Liberty, Mo., is a leading manufacturer of specialty chemical products for agricultural, sanitary sewer and thermal fluid applications. A Dow spokesperson told PCT that about 10 Dow employees are expected to transition to Douglas at close, and that until the transaction closes, “Dow employees will remain committed to our high product stewardship standards, and the industry can count on us to operate our business as usual. Additionally, our team is working closely with Douglas Products to achieve a smooth transition for our customers. Our top priority is maintaining a consistently high level of service and stewardship to avoid any disruption to quality, customer service, safety or product delivery as a result of this transaction.”

The remainder of the Dow AgroSciences global pest control business is not in the scope of this transaction, and the Dow spokersperson said Dow will continue to actively support and engage in the T&O and pest management industries. “In fact, we will continue to invest in and innovate for our T&O and subterranean termite businesses. We are eager to introduce our new and novel business platform to the pest management industry, which we expect to pilot in the next 12 months.” — Brad Harbison

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PPMA Announces Cindy Mannes as New Executive Director

FAIRFAX, Va. — The Professional Pest Management Alliance (PPMA) in June announced to its board and the industry that Cindy Mannes has accepted the position of executive director. Mannes was executive director of PPMA from 2001-08 before leaving to work as chief marketing and strategy officer of Atlanta-based Arrow Exterminators. Her official start date at PPMA is Aug. 3.

“It’s an honor to be representing the industry and I’m really excited to continue the great work of PPMA,” Mannes told PCT. “I’ve been working at a pest management firm for seven years and that brings a unique perspective to this position. Hopefully that perspective brings some strength to the organization.”

According to PPMA Board Chairman Tommy Fortson, “We are very pleased to welcome Cindy back as PPMA’s executive director. It was under her direction that the organization found its sea legs and demonstrated the power of a unified industry voice.”

Bob Rosenberg, chief executive officer of the National Pest Management Association (NPMA) states, “We’ve been very lucky to have terrific, engaged leaders of PPMA since 2001. Most recently under Missy Henriksen’s stewardship, PPMA has grown year-over-year, both in terms of size and message penetration, but our work is far from done. Thirty-seven percent of homeowners report using professional pest management services each year — which means we’ve got lots of frontier left to tackle.”

Henriksen, who has been at PPMA since March 2009, is headed to an allied industry: the National Association of Landscape Professionals (NALP), formerly known as PLANET. There she will serve as vice president of public affairs. “I will be creating the equivalent of the Professional Pest Management Alliance (PPMA) for them,” she told PCT in April.

Mannes said the opportunity to meaningfully contribute to industry growth is one of the key motivating factors in her decision to return to PPMA. “There is incredible opportunity for our industry, and I’m very motivated to continue to grow the residential business and more firmly establish our value proposition commercially. Missy has done an incredible job of introducing PPMA to more members of the industry and solidifying our consumer voice — it will be an honor to build on this work and continue PPMA’s success.”

 

Comings & Goings

If your company has added new personnel, send a photo and press release to jdorsch@giemedia.com.   Maurice “Moe” Jenkins was promoted to regional manager of Massey Services’ Florida Southeast Region. Jenkins will be responsible for managing service centers from Cocoa and throughout the east coast of Florida to Boca Raton. In other news at the firm, Jonathon Goetz was promoted to regional manager of Massey Services’ Atlanta Region. Dana Hill has been promoted from Massey Services customer care manager to director of customer care.   Lora Mills joined Bug Doctor, Paramus, N.J., as executive administrative assistant. Mills started her career in New Jersey spending more than 13 years in the pharmaceutical sector supporting executives in marketing and sales.   David Bolton was promoted to Tucson branch manager for Truly Nolen of America. Bolton joined Truly Nolen in 2012 as a manager in training. Also at Truly Nolen, Richard Jencks has been promoted to Truly Nolen branch manager in Englewood, Fla.   Tom Ogle joined AIB International as chief financial officer and vice president, finance and IT. Ogle has more than 20 years of experience with multiple financial functions along with information systems responsibilities.   Bell Laboratories’ Sheila Haddad and Patrick Lynch were promoted to regional sales managers. In their new positions, Haddad and Lynch will oversee Bell’s technical sales representatives in the U.S. and Canada. As Eastern regional sales manager, Haddad will oversee Bell technical representatives in New England, Northeast, Southeast and Central territories, in addition to Eastern Canada. Lynch steps into the newly created position of Western regional sales manager. He is based near San Diego, Calif., and will provide sales management to Bell’s technical reps in the Western and Midwestern areas of the U.S., Florida and Western Canada.   The Virginia Pest Management Association (VPMA) named Paul Bello as the incoming Certified Wood Destroying Insect Inspector Program instructor after the retirement of former instructor, Dr. George Rambo.

 

Bayer Bee Care Center Celebrates First Anniversary

RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C. — In April, Bayer CropScience celebrated the one-year anniversary of its North American Bee Care Center.

The center, located in Research Triangle Park, N.C., is part of the company’s efforts to bring together technological, scientific and academic resources to promote improved honey bee health, product stewardship and sustainable agriculture.

“We are excited to celebrate an incredibly successful year for our North American Bee Care Center, which was developed to further our agricultural investment and protect resources critical to the success of growers around the world,” said Jim Blome, president and CEO of Bayer CropScience LP. “The center helps us leave a better world through protecting pollinator health and providing a more sustainable future for growers who depend on honey bees to pollinate their crops. The research and development innovations developed here are a necessary component of providing enough safe, healthy food to nourish a rapidly expanding global population.”

Becky Langer, the program manager of the North American Bee Care Center, said the facility has made major strides for pollinator health through education and outreach efforts.

“We’ve had more than 3,000 visitors come through the doors of the Bee Care Center in our first year,” she said. “That’s 4-year-olds to 80-year-olds, from preschoolers or beekeepers or customers. We’ve hosted them all. It’s been fun to see people understand the true challenges the bees are facing and what they can do to help.”

Richard Reich of the North Carolina Department of Agriculture was on hand to present the company with an official proclamation from the governor’s office that April 27 would be known as “Honey Bee Day” in North Carolina.

The center, part of Bayer CropSciences’ more than $12 million investment in bee health last year, hosts researchers, including entomologists, apiarists and graduate students who develop comprehensive solutions for bee health. Some of the accomplishments of these scientists and the Bayer Bee Care Program over the past year include:

• Developing new non-invasive technologies known as Smart Hives to track changes in colony health and help improve hive management.
• Developing and testing new delivery systems, including the novel Varroa Gate technology, to prevent colony re-infestation by Varroa mites during the summer.
• Hosting more than 3,000 visitors at the North American Bee Care Center and participating in more than 100 conferences, meetings and tradeshows dedicated to pollinator health.
• Establishing a bee health student research platform, involving visiting graduate students and sponsored research projects among universities.
• Launching “Feed a Bee,” an initiative to increase foraging, including growing 50 million flowers and providing additional forage acreage in 2015.
• Working with the North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT) to create bee-attractant habitats along highway rights-of-ways.
• Working with “Project Apis m.” to establish pollinator patches across 130 miles in Kansas and 3,000 acres of bee forage in California and Washington.
• Developing Bayer’s Fluency Agent, an innovative technology that significantly reduces airborne dust associated with corn seed planting to reduce potential bee exposure.
• Promoting Bayer’s CARE Program, emphasizing communication and stewardship of Bayer CropScience products and the long-term viability of modern farming. (For more on any of these initiatives, download the Bayer CropScience North American Bee Care Center Annual Report, available at http://bit.ly/1HO6JF9.)
   

The 6,000 square-foot center houses a full laboratory with a teaching and research apiary, honey extraction and hive maintenance space; interactive learning center; and meeting, training and presentation facilities for beekeepers, farmers and educators, as well as office space for a full staff and graduate students. Bayer says on-site honey bee colonies, pollinator-friendly gardens and a screened hive observation area have advanced education and collaboration to foster significant improvement in honey bee health and stewardship measures and best management practices.

For the anniversary event, the center also had a product station, which prominently featured Bayer’s newest insecticide, Sivanto, a Butenolide-class chemical that has been lauded for its friendliness to pollinators. Sivanto is currently registered for row crops, but Mark Schneid, chief marketing officer, NA, Bayer CropScience LP, expects it to be available for ornamentals under a different brand name by 2017. Schneid stressed that Sivanto and its active ingredient, flupyradifurone, is not as broad-spectrum as imidacloprid, the active ingredient in some neonicotinoid insecticides.

“We still believe strongly and the science supports our position that neonics have a very important place in offering safe and effective control of pests in these environments when used properly, protecting the health of beehives,” Schneid said. “We also are continuing to work on innovation not as alternatives or replacements but as additional tools that can be used in the toolbox to help our growers get the effective results they need while protecting pollinators and the environment.”

During the event, Bayer CropScience announced Healthy Hives 2020, a new initiative aimed at improving pollinator health. The company organized a workshop in June with the goal of determining present honey bee health conditions in the U.S. and setting three tangible and assessable initiatives to improve honey bee health by the year 2020. The best ideas from the inaugural meeting will become part of an action plan that will include sponsored research through collaborations with various organizations as well as research conducted directly by the North American Bayer Bee Care Center.

Also at the event, the company announced its pledge of $100,000 to the North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT) to be used for the development of roadside pollinator plantings this spring. The project will provide about 46 new acres of bee-attractant vegetation alongside North Carolina’s roads and highways, such as wildflower beds that promote honey bee population development and support crop pollination.

Bayer’s partnership with NCDOT is the most recent in a series of collaborations that Bayer is forging as part of its Feed a Bee campaign.

Langer said the company plans to blend the Feed a Bee program with its Smart Hive technology. Smart Hives are digital sensors that monitor hives and provide information about what is happening inside.

“We’re going to partner with select golf courses to have Smart Hive applications installed into the bee hives they already have present on their courses,” Langer said. “Then we are going to analyze the health of the bees in relation to the products the golf courses are applying to the hives.” — Matt McClellan, managing editor, GIE Media’s Nursery Management magazine

 

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Pi Chi Omega Launches Executive Director Search

ATLANTA — Pi Chi Omega, the professional pest management fraternity, is seeking applications for its executive director position. The fraternity is seeking an experienced and passionate individual with leadership and managerial skills to plan and execute the programs of this service fraternity.

Pi Chi Omega was created and continues: to further the science of pest control; to encourage and promote formal education of potential members of the pest control industry; to cooperate with the National Pest Management Association and various state and local pest control associations; to obtain and distribute information that would be of value to members of the pest control industry; to further public respect and confidence in professional pest control; and to further the mutual benefits and associations of the members of Pi Chi Omega.

Pi Chi Omega is a 501 (c) (6) tax exempt service fraternity committed to serving the interests of the pest management industry, with a focus on education.

The executive director has full responsibility for planning and executing the long-range goals of the organization as determined by the board of directors and managing the operations of the association. The work of Pi Chi Omega is carried out by the executive director and board of directors which includes a president, president elect, past president, secretary, treasurer and four directors. The executive director will be responsible for driving membership and building relationships within the pest management community.

Additional information regarding this position is available at www.pichiomega.org. Applications can be sent to Kim Kelley-Tunis via email at kkelley@rollins.com.