My friend Elson Shields stop by to discuss the wonderful world of nematodes and what they provide for soil health. We discuss his passion at trying to make big agricultural methods more sustainable. We discuss his latest venture as a nematode rancher, farming and selling these microscopic symbiotic little worms. This is a really cool conversation with an amazing human being
Elson Shields is a renowned professor at Cornell University, located in Ithaca, New York. With extensive knowledge and expertise in the field of entomology, Shields is widely recognized as an expert in the areas of Aerobiology, Biological Control, Field Crop Entomology, Integrated Pest Management, and Soil Insects Management.
Throughout his career, Shields has focused his extension and research efforts on reducing the environmental impact of insect management in field crops. He has been an advocate for implementing Integrated Pest Management guidelines, which emphasize the use of biological control of insect pests, host plant resistance, and the least dose pesticide usage when required. Shields has also conducted research on insect long-ranged migration, particularly with potato leafhopper and soybean aphid.
Some of Shields’ notable research projects have included the biological control of alfalfa snout beetle, breeding for snout beetle resistant alfalfa with Don Viands, least dose evaluations with corn rootworm and potato leafhopper, and the movement of corn pollen with D. Aylor at the CT Ag Exp. Stat. He has also collaborated with G. Bergstrom to study the movement of wheat head scab and with D. Mortensen at Penn State to investigate the dispersal of herbicide-resistant weed seed.
One of Shields’ current research projects is focused on Plant Biosecurity and utilizes mobile PCR technology to identify aerobiota. Shields has been actively engaged in his research efforts and has been recognized by many organizations for his contributions to the field. His knowledge, expertise, and dedication have made him a valuable member of the Cornell University faculty.
https://persistentbiocontrol.com
The seeds for our company were planted in 1986 when Elson Shields, a newly hired Cornell professor, was asked to tackle an invasive alfalfa pest in Upstate New York. Alfalfa Snout Beetle is a major alfalfa pest in Northern New York which cost the state’s dairy farmers millions each year.
Over the next 25 years, Elson isolated and cultivated the right blend of persistent nematodes that would control Alfalfa Snout Beetle and eliminate it’s economic impact on New York’s dairy farmers. Through the years of research, Elson held one guiding principle – the solution needed to be scalable, easy to apply, and affordable for farmers.
In 2010, those same persistent nematodes were shown to control Western Corn Rootworm and over the next 8 years, field trials were conducted in New York, Texas, Colorado, Iowa, and New Mexico to confirm this effect.
Persistent BioControl™ was founded in 2019 to help distribute this breakthrough technology to farmers across the corn growing states. We are a veteran owned business located in Austin, TX where we grow our persistent nematodes.
Please feel free to reach out here with any questions or email us directly at info@persistentbiocontrol.com
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