Syngenta, universities provide Pest Patrol text alerts

Syngenta teamed up with university entomologists for the eighth year in a row to help farmers and other agricultural professionals keep track of pest outbreaks via text message and Syngenta’s Pest Patrol website.
  
The 11 entomologists from Texas to Virginia plan to deliver recorded messages on field conditions, pest threats and treatment recommendations to help growers stay ahead of the pests as they plan individualized pest-management plans.
  
“For years, Pest Patrol Alerts have complemented on-farm scouting and helped growers and consultants make better decisions,” said Mary DeMers, senior communications lead at Syngenta. “Pest Patrol is a valuable addition to scouting that provides applicable management information to growers. In the coming years, we plan to make it even better.”

Participants must sign up for the text alerts as the popular toll-free number used when the Pest Patrol program started in 2009 is no longer active. Those looking to sign up for the text alerts must register online at Syngenta’s Pest Patrol website or by texting the short code word for each entomologist they desire to receive alerts from to 97063.

For Blayne Reed from Texas A&M Plainview the code word is pestpat1; for Stephen Biles from Texas A&M Port Lavaca the code word is pestpat2; for David Kerns from Louisiana State, the code word is pestpat4; for Angus Catchot from Mississippi State the code is pestpat5; for Gus Lorenz from Arkansas the code is pestpat6; for Jeremy Greene from Clemson the code is pestpat7; for Ames Herbert of Virginia Tech, the code word is pestpat8; for Dominic Reisig from N.C. State, the code is pestpat9; for Georgia entomologist Phillip Roberts, the code is pestpat10; for Ron Smith from Auburn, the code is pestpat11 and for Scott Stewart from Tennessee the code word is pestpat12.