Syngenta welcomes Florida's McAvoy to leadership program

The Syngenta program helps advisers to growers, especially in the area of resistance-management practices.
The Syngenta program helps advisers to growers, especially in the area of resistance-management practices.

Gene McAvoy, a vegetable extension agent with University of Florida, has joined Syngenta's Resistance Fighter Leadership Program.

The program helps advisers to growers, especially in the area of resistance-management practices, then lets those advisers share their new knowledge with other advisers and growers.

In his role at the University of Florida, McAvoy oversees the development and implementation of educational programs for Floridian growers in five southwestern counties. The programs cover everything from integrated pest management to vegetable nutrition.

“Throughout my career working in vegetable crops in South Florida, I’ve seen diseases, insects and weeds develop resistance to traditional management programs,” McAvoy said. “It is important to incorporate integrated pest management and other methods to complement chemical programs, and becoming a member of this program is a good way to get the word out there.”

McAvoy started his journey with resistance-management when he saw western flower thrips becoming increasingly resistant to a specific insecticide. Once he discovered that grower cultivation of refugia would help, he began to see the flower thrips returning, a prime example of how being proactive helps with existing management tools.

“Resistance issues are an ever-increasing challenge in agriculture,” David Laird, Syngenta's head of product biology, said. “We are proud to partner with advisers like Gene, who meet those challenges head on and help find solutions to preserve the tools we have.”