ITHACA, N.Y. -- For its efforts in teaching farmers and homeowners how to use ecologically sound pest-management techniques, Cornell University's New York State Integrated Pest Management (IPM) program has received the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Environmental Quality Award, the agency's highest honor.

"This program develops and teaches pest-control methods that are cost-effective and pose minimal risks to human health and the environment," said Walter E. Mugdan, the regional counsel for the EPA, upon presenting the award in New York City on April 30. "Due in large part to the program's efforts, nearly 90 percent of New York farmers now use some form of integrated pest management," he said.

Accepting the award were Michael P. Hoffmann, director of the IPM program and associate professor of entomology; Curtis H. Petzoldt, assistant director; and Jennifer Grant, community IPM coordinator.

EPA Region 2 presents the awards annually to individuals, nonprofit groups, educators, business representatives, government officials and media from New York, New Jersey, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands who have made significant contributions to improving environmental quality. Sixteen other individuals and organizations have received the award this year in New York state.

Robert J. Mungari, director of plant industry at the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets, nominated the IPM program for the award. New York and California have the only two major state-funded IPM programs in the United States, Mungari noted, and the director of New York's IPM program is influential at the national level. "The program is extremely active in regional and national IPM programming. The program takes its role and responsibility seriously as a leader among the Northeast's and other IPM programs," he said. About 60 percent of New York's community-oriented IPM projects and almost 75 percent of the agricultural projects can be applied to other states, Mungari said.

"We really appreciate being recognized for our contributions to the citizens of New York," said Hoffmann. "IPM aims to keep our farmers and urban pest managers at the cutting edge with cost-effective tools that pose minimal risk to the environment and to human health. The program does not achieve success alone, and we need to recognize the many important partnerships we have with Cornell faculty, cooperative extension staff, growers, consultants and state and federal agencies."

The IPM program began in 1985 when a bill developed by James P. Tette, of Cornell's College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, and Ronald O. Barrett, then director of the Division of Plant Industry in the New York Department of Agriculture and Markets, was passed by the legislature. In 1986 the program received initial funding of $350,000. The program originally focused on helping farmers reduce pesticide risks. Today the program examines everything from tomato canker and peach tree borers to house mice, grubs and crabgrass. Beyond the farm, IPM educators help in schools, museums, parks, golf courses, office buildings and even jails.

IPM educators work with crop advisers, industry and commodity representatives, parent-teacher associations, environmental and public health advocates, and town, county and district legislators. "Most certainly, it's a cooperative effort," said Hoffmann.

Congratulating the program's leaders and educators on the award, Nathan L. Rudgers, commissioner of the state's Department of Agriculture and Markets, said: "New York's IPM program has time and time again proven its commitment to protecting and enhancing the state's environmental quality through its progressive pest-management strategies."

Related World Wide Web site: The following site provides additional information on this news release.

o Cornell's New York Integrated Pest Management program:

http://www.nysipm.cornell.edu/

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