NCPMA announces keynote speaker for 2021 training event

Steve Troxler

Steve Troxler, the agriculture commissioner for the state of North Carolina, is set to be the keynote speaker of the North Carolina Pest Management Association’s (NCPMA’s) 2021 Pest Control Technician’s (PCT) School. The event is set to take place virtually Jan. 25-28, 2021.

According to the North Carolina Department of Agriculture & Consumer Services website, Troxler has served as agriculture commissioner since 2005, and has “focused on developing new markets for North Carolina farm products, preserving working farms and protecting the state’s food supply. He grew up in Browns Summit, N.C., and is the founder, owner and operator of Troxler Farms. He is a past president of the National Association of State Departments of Agriculture, and is former chairman of NASDA’s Food Regulation and Nutrition Committee.”

“We are honored to have Commissioner Troxler serve as our keynote speaker for this unprecedented PCT School, and are looking forward to hearing his views on the current state of our industry and agriculture in North Carolina,” John Adkins, NCPMA president and chair of the PCT School Committee, said in an NCPMA news release. “This year’s PCT School may look different than in years past, but we are looking forward to continuing our more than 70-year history of bringing the best training and speakers to North Carolina’s pest management professionals.”

Registration and more information is available online at NCPestManagement.org. The schedule is set as follows:

Monday, Jan. 25, 2021

• 8:00 – 12:00    Board of Directors Meeting
• 1:00-2:30        General Membership Meeting and Awards
• 2:30-3:00        North Carolina State University Update and Graduate Student Award
• 3:30-4:30        Keynote Speaker – Steve Troxler
• 5:00-6:00        Virtual Reception for Owners and Managers

Tuesday, Jan. 26, 2021

Technical Sessions

• 7:30-8:00        Breakfast Breakout
• 8:00-8:55        P-Phase / Stored Product Insects /Tom Mueller, Insects Limited, Inc.
• 8:55-9:00        BREAK
• 9:00- 9:55       W-Phase / Termites/ Dr. Brittany Campbell, NPMA
• 9:55-10:00      BREAK
• 10:00-10:55    P-Phase / Human Parasites/ Heather King, Target Specialty Products
• 10:55-11:00    BREAK
• 11:00-11:55    W-Phase / Powder Post Beetles/ Dr. Dan Suiter, UGA Entomology

Management   Sessions

• 2:00-2:50        MGMT Session / Recruiting in today’s job market
• 2:50-3:00        BREAK
• 3:00-3:50        MGMT Round Table Discussion / Effects of COVID & PPP

Wednesday, Jan. 27, 2021

Technical Sessions

• 7:30-8 AM      Breakfast Breakout
• 8:00-8:55        P-Phase / Ants / Tommy Powell, MKG
• 8:55-9:00        BREAK
• 9:00-9:55        W-Phase / Rick Bell, Arrow
• 9:55-10:00      BREAK
• 10:00-10:55    P-Phase /Rodents/ John Murphy, Liphatech
• 10:55-11:00    BREAK
• 11:00-11:55    W-Phase / NCDA&CS Structural Division/ Richard Willis & Roger Bryan

Management Sessions

• 2:00-2:50        MGMT Session / Health Ins
• 2:50-3:00        BREAK
• 3:00-3:50        MGMT Session / Safety

Thursday, Jan. 28, 2021

Technical Sessions

• 7:30-8      Breakfast Breakout
• 8:00-8:55        NCSU Student W-Phase
• 8:55-9:00        BREAK
• 9:00-9:55        NCSU Student P-Phase
• 9:55-10:00      BREAK
• 10:00-10:55    O&T Phase / Turf feeding Caterpillars/ Dr. Terri Billeisen, NCSU
• 10:55-11:00    BREAK
• 11:00-11:55    O&T Phase / Fruit & Wood Ornamental Pathology/ Dr. Sara Villani, NCSU
• Noon-1:00       LUNCH
• 1:00-1:55        F-Phase / Fumigation (Not available for VA Credit)/ Pete Mueller, Fumigation Service & Supply
• 1:55-2:00        BREAK
• 2:00-2:55        F-Phase / Fumigation (Not available for VA credit)/ Ken Kendall, Ensystex

WDIR, Certified Applicator, Hands On School and ACE will not be offered as part of PCT this year. NCPMA is working on alternate dates and methods of instruction.

“We may not be meeting in person this year, but the 2021 PCT School will continue and will include the best of what North Carolina’s pest management professionals have come to expect from our winter school,” Committee Chair and NCPMA  President John Adkins said in a news release. “We are looking forward to continuing our more than 70-year history of bringing the best training and speakers to North Carolina’s pest management professionals.”