Entomologist Dan Papacek says he stumbled into his career, first trying medicine and agriculture before discovering a passion for insects.
Dan studied agricultural sciences at the University of Queensland and majored in entomology - an education progression he says is difficult to make today. He then started working in the citrus industry, developing integrated pest management programs.
In 1981, he founded Bugs for Bugs, which today rears a wide range of beneficial insects and mites and offers pest management tools like pheromones and traps.
Dan says growers' interest in using beneficial insects as a pest management tool has grown in the past 5 to 8 years to be arguably mainstream. However, for the first several decades, it was very much a fringe industry. For much of the first 15 years, Dan's priority was fieldwork as a consultant before the mass rearing of insects became more economically viable.
Dan's passion is helping growers achieve their pest management goals while reducing their chemical usage to create a more sustainable, healthy environment.
He likens integrated pest management and chemical usage to human health - if chemicals are like antibiotics, introducing biocontrols is like helping to build immunity, preventing the person from needing to go to the doctor in the first place. Much like antibiotics, chemicals can be abused and relied upon as a solution rather than treating the underlying cause.
With his team at Bugs for Bugs, Dan is constantly experimenting and developing practices. He recently trialled using drones to release insects and creating slow-release systems.
