Lectures

Attention: the lectures will be held in Dutch language.

LECTURE 1: Sustainable pest control: utopia or reality?
11:00 a.m. – 12:15 p.m.
Location: BARONIEZAAL

Speaker: Mr. Joan Rooijakkers (Agro Pest Control)

Together with Joan Rooijakkers, we look at the past, present and future of our pest control industry. The great thing is that it is in full swing… More and more exciting new solutions are coming on the market that help us proactively manage and prevent pest problems instead of combating them. The solution to a pest problem really doesn’t come in a jar or bag of poison. By innovating and devising new solutions with respect for people, animals and the environment, many problems can be solved in a biological and therefore sustainable way.

ABOUT JOAN
Joan is a passionate “ag man” at heart. In 1996 he started setting up a professional pest control for agricultural companies at Bisseling BV in Gemert (Netherlands). This company later transferred to Protekta Pest Control.

From 1997 to 2004, together with Protekta, he developed biological control for all types of companies. During this period they had their own cattle farm available as a test farm.

Biological pest control is still undergoing many developments, such as red mite control, beetle control, etc. Agricultural entrepreneurs are aware that this method of control means a 70% reduction in biocides and that this prevents the development of resistance. During this period Joan gave many lectures to compound feed companies, study clubs, Helicon training courses, etc.

In 2014, Protekta was acquired by Rentokil, where he worked for several weeks.

Since January 2015 he has been working at Agro Pest Control as Commercial Director. He works together with a close-knit team to further professionalize pest control in the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg and Germany.

In 2022 he will be working in the pest management industry for 27 years.

 

LECTURE 2: Developments in monitoring techniques: eDNA and automatic image recognition
2:00 p.m. – 3:15 p.m.
Location: BARONIEZAAL

Speaker: Mr. Bruce Schoelitsz (HAS University of Applied Sciences Den Bosch)

The developments surrounding the monitoring of nature are on the rise. Current technological progress provides new methods of monitoring, not only in nature, but also in and around buildings. The new research group Innovative Biomonitoring of HAS University of Applied Sciences Den Bosch (the Netherlands), together with Naturalis, is responding to these techniques. The aim is to apply automatic image recognition and the use of environmental DNA in practice. We focus on rare and protected species, (invasive) exotics and pests. How do these techniques work? Which applications are possible within pest management? And not unimportant: we would also like to know what ideas you have regarding the application of these techniques!

ABOUT BRUCE
During his studies in Biology at the Radboud University Nijmegen, Bruce focused a lot on studying insects. During his master’s, he conducted research in Wageningen into the egg-laying behavior of malaria mosquitoes and maintained his own mosquito culture (including blood diet). After graduating, he ended up at KAD and for almost 7 years he has been involved in the beautiful field of pest control, in which the performance of insect identifications, experimental and practical studies and inspections at private individuals constituted an important part of his work.

After frequent contact with HAS University of Applied Sciences Den Bosch, for example by offering an internship, being a client for student projects and giving guest lectures, he made the switch to the university. Still infected with the “pest control virus”, he is also involved in research into pests at the university. For example, there have been several student projects in which research has been done on pests in insect farming, but studies are also being conducted with bed bugs, rats and mice.