The IPM Industry

An Unusual Industry

Most industries follow set models — the trails of bread crumbs left behind by their predecessors. The biocontrol/IPM industry doesn’t yet have that luxury. There’s nothing about it you can check out of the library. Once you understand the peculiarities, the rest makes sense.

Extreme Perishability

The reason for this industry’s peculiarities — at least as it pertains to the biocontrol agents themselves — is perishability. Not just any perishability: most of the organisms cannot, for the most part, be stored at all. They can’t be frozen. Most require chilling but not full refrigeration. Heat’s a real killer.

Gourmet foods are perishable, but once those choice Midwest steaks are flash-frozen and vacuum-sealed, they can stay that way a very long time — pulled out when needed, right before shipping. You can’t do that with the bugs.

Biocontrol agents are usually insects, mites or nematodes. They are shipped alive and must be very fresh. By reputable companies, they are guaranteed to arrive to the end-user alive and capable of performing. To make that work, certain protocols must be adhered to. It’s a matter of survival — that of the good bugs, that of the people who purvey them, and that of the people who use them.

A Week in the Industry

To better understand this business, here’s the typical weekly rhythm for the two players at the heart of it.

The Distributor’s Week

Monday: Boxes are made up, gel-ice packs are frozen (if not already done), and packing materials are prepared.

Tuesday: The biocontrol agents arrive via overnight courier from points around the world; they’re inspected, packaged and labeled; they then head to shipping for consolidation in insulated boxes with cold or hot packs depending on weather at origin and destination — with consideration to route and time of year. The boxes are picked up by an overnight courier (UPS, FedEx, Airborne Express are common).

Wednesday & Thursday: Late shipments dealt with. Orders taken for the following week. Consultation, customer service, books kept.

Friday: Typical deadline day for orders being shipped the following week — end-users need to get their orders in so distributors can prepare producers with counts needed. For some companies, deadlines for certain species fall on Thursday or even Wednesday.

The Producer’s Week

Sunday: Some of the more rugged bugs slated for that week are harvested and held. Cultures and plants are tended. Quality control checked.

Monday: The majority of critters are harvested and added to the bugs held over. All are inspected, bottled, labeled, packaged and shipped to distributors. Samples taken from each batch for QC. Cultures tended.

Tuesday: Same as Monday, except shipments typically go to area growers (expedited shipping less critical than for distributors). Samples sent to outside agencies for independent testing.

Wednesday – Saturday: Cultures and plants tended. Quality control checked. Supplies readied for the following week. Orders received. By Saturday most orders are in.

For both the distributor and the producer, this business can be very challenging.

Distributor vs Producer — Or Both?

Now imagine combining both facets: distribution and production. Typically:

• Producers who distribute may lack in key areas such as customer service and technical support — they have the know-how but lack the time or rapport.
• Distributors very often don’t make very good producers — they’re too busy tending to a multitude of customers.

There are exceptions, but only very large companies can pull this off by segregating their production and distribution segments.

If you’re a buyer interested in distributing, seek the services of a producer (or a broker / importer willing to drop-ship on your behalf) so your customers get the freshest possible product. If you’re a grower in need of customer service and technical support, contact a distributor geared up to meet your needs.

If you wish to buy a Ford, don’t call the Ford Motor Company’s national headquarters — seek the assistance of an appropriate Ford dealership.

A good distributor will have educational literature: detailed catalogs, books, instructional pamphlets, guideline sheets. Some will have a useful web presence too.

Freight Costs — Why Overnight Matters

Another peculiarity of this industry, shared by others shipping perishables, is the enormous freight costs associated with everyday business. It’s a necessary evil and should be considered when weighing the costs of choosing the Green Methods over conventional pest control.

Why so necessary? Let’s say a particular predatory mite lives for ten days from the time the distributor ships it out. Next-day-air delivery consumes 10% of that mite’s natural life — on par with a country commuter’s daily drive to the city. Ten percent of a life. Wow. Second-day air means 20% is consumed.

Lengthy transit times not only put undue stress on the biocontrol agents — they decrease the agents’ usable life, making them less valuable. Be wary of distributors who claim to make life easier by shipping biocontrols any way other than one which results in next-day delivery. They may claim to blow the competition away by reducing the freight bill, but it comes at a price.

Other IPM products — the nonperishables — aren’t affected this way and can be shipped like any product (think socks or compact discs) via ground services.

Be Wary of Marketing Claims

Also be wary of companies having their bugs “in stock” or “shipping the same day.” Unless they are producers, or the critters in question can be easily and safely stored, those claims may come at the end-user’s expense.

Unfortunately some distributors will mask the truth by claiming to produce their bugs on their own farm or insectary. Some may actually produce one or two organisms, but for the most part — especially if they offer a huge and diverse selection — the biocontrols they’re offering are likely stored bugs.

Probably the wildest marketing manipulation I’ve seen in the bug business is the claim that praying mantises (which are not terribly effective biocontrols of any pest — but are very symbolic and kind of cool) can control aphids and thrips and whiteflies and… well, everything under the sun. I’ve even read in one catalog that they can control white grubs. Outrageous! White grubs are in the soil; mantids are not known to burrow after a meal.

The good news: the biocontrol industry is getting better about dispensing truths. Bad apples do tend to rot — eventually. Hope is in the air.

Self-Regulation — ANBP & ASTM

Another way the biocontrol industry is keeping house, officially speaking, is in its voluntary creation and adoption of standards. The biocontrol industry is creating and publishing a host of standards with the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM). Leading that effort is the biocontrol industry’s own regulatory body: the Association of Natural Biocontrol Producers (ANBP).

Though these standards don’t yet address implementation of the products and programs, they do address production and counting techniques and the like. Current concerns — with ASTM officiation — include control and confirmation of correct species being reared, the way they are counted and packaged, and other behind-the-scenes concerns. Hopefully the standardized concerns will continue to expand.

Your Role as a Consumer

Now that the ins and outs of the industry’s inner workings are covered, let’s address your interaction with it. As written before: your best interests stand a better chance of being met if you focus on dealing with a distributor geared up to meet your needs and prepare to ask and answer questions — there will be lots, probably from both sides.

Best Way to Talk to a Distributor

From personal knowledge, the best way to have a rewarding heart-to-heart with a distributor is in person or over the telephone. Be advised: having a distributor’s technical representative come to your facility for a one-on-one will cost you. Unless you’re promising to put their kids through college by the sheer volume of your orders, be prepared to pay extra for that luxury. It’s usually unnecessary — the telephone should easily satisfy everyone’s needs.

There’ll be lots of questions, though — you’ll have to be prepared to either wing it or provide suitable, educated answers. It may involve going back for more answers or looking to a third party like your university’s cooperative extension office for help or pest ID.

Fax and email? Forget it unless you’re very experienced and simply placing an order. Faxing and emailing questions and answers back and forth is a weak, contemporary attempt to be interactive. It can be a techno-nightmare for everyone involved. Give your distributor — and yourself — a break, use the phone.