In September 2011 we made the long haul across the pond to England to attend an International Organisation for Biological Control (IOBC) workshop, specifically, a meeting of the Western Palaearctic Regional Section, Temperate Climate Working Group for Integrated Control in Protected Crops. This is a bit of a mouthful but distinguishes it from several other regional and crop- or pest-specific working groups under the auspices of the IOBC. We reported on a meeting of the Mediterranean Climate IOBC greenhouse IPM group held in Crete in PH&G Issue 109, Nov/Dec 2009. These two groups each meet every 3 years and are offset. The Temperate Climate group usually meets in Western Europe, but occasionally in North America. One of us first attended a meeting in Budapest in 1987, and became an instant convert to the common aims of the participants. In this case it was a joint meeting with colleagues in the Eastern European group, so far regrettably not repeated. Despite the language difficulties for Eastern European members, and an interesting episode when a Hungarian Communist Party minder became overexcited by a little local discussion between three of us westerners, concerned that the Encarsia program in a local greenhouse was heading for some difficulties, it was a very worthwhile exchange of common ideals and ideas.
The meeting draws members mainly from biocontrol companies, government research institutions, private consultants, universities and associated industries, with a scattering of Australian retirees. It has the common goal of advancing practical knowledge of biocontrol use in protected crops, which include greenhouses, nurseries and tunnel houses. While most of the 90 attendees came from Europe, with 15 countries represented, members also came from Japan, Brazil, Canada, the USA, New Zealand, Israel and we ourselves as the only Australians. Attendance was down from about 120 in previous years, perhaps a reflection of the downturn in the global economy. We were personally thankful for contributions from Syngenta Bioline (UK), Biological Services SA, Bugs for Bugs (QLD), Organic Crop Protectants (NSW) and PH&G to lighten the load. Considering that one-third of the attendees came from England, that university students were few and far between, and USA representation, once strong, was reduced to two people, this is perhaps a disturbing indication of the global downturn in research investment in environmental horticulture, which we flagged in our article in PH&G Issue 120, Sep/Oct 2011. Horticulture Australia Ltd declined to contribute to our attendance, to the detriment of greenhouse growers in this country, who will not have access to a full report of proceedings and insights gleaned. Self-funding is not a sustainable option for gathering information from overseas, which will primarily benefit Australian producers of protected crops.
