Ag Research

 

Tom Royer, Oklahoma State University professor, Extension entomologist and Integrated Pest Management coordinator with the OSU Department of Entomology and Plant Pathology, recently received the 2022 Friends of IPM Hall of Fame Award from the Southern IPM Center.

 

The Southern IPM Center is the hub of a multi-state partnership and communications network linking researchers, growers, Extension educators, commodity organizations, environmental groups, pest control professionals, government agencies and others.

 

Royer has statewide Extension responsibilities for insect management in cereal grains and field crops and has worked with pest management of aphids and other pests of wheat, sorghum, canola, corn, soybeans, and rangeland and pasture. He also administers IPM Oklahoma!, an OSU Extension program that currently supports IPM projects in cotton, wheat, sorghum, soybeans, fly management in livestock and anthropophilic pests in public housing.

 

During his 26-year tenure at OSU, Royer and his IPM team have addressed screening for effective insecticides and host plant resistance, development of economic thresholds, and development of several rapid scouting tools. Their projects have saved Oklahoma growers $6.2 to $14.4 million per year in lost grain yield.

 

In 2022, Royer received the Gerrit Cuperus Integrated Pest Management Award for outstanding IPM leadership from OSU Extension and the Lifetime Achievement Award of Recognition at the 10th International IPM Symposium.