Although much of the initial push for IPM came from California researchers in sympathetic response to Rachael Carson's Silent Spring, national acceptance of IPM as a philosophy and technology can be traced to 1970 to the first symposium of agricultural scientists brought together to discuss IPM in a conference held at North Carolina State University, which was jointly funded by the Rockefeller Foundation, NSF, and USDA/CSRS. This conference resulted in a published proceeding, Concepts of Pest Management. The list of attendees at this conference now reads like a Who's Who in the IPM literature.

It was at this conference that the concepts, strategies and tactics of integrated pest management were synthesized and expressed as a philosophy and set of technologies whose objectives are to manage pests using methods that are economically rewarding, culturally suitable, and environmentally acceptable.

Following this conference, during the 1970s and early 1980s, were two large research programs involving numerous institutions - the so-called "Huffaker" Project and the following "Atkinson" Project, named for Carl Huffaker at the University of California Berkeley and Perry Atkinson at Texas A&M. Within these projects, N.C. State University scientists played a major role.

Today, some thirty-odd years since that first IPM conference, a large majority of senior scientists involved in IPM received their Ph.D.'s from research supported by the Huffaker and Atkinson projects. These individuals still maintain the cross-disciplinary professional ties which were fostered during that period. As concern for food, worker and environmental safety has increased, together with both newer and more sophisticated management options, integrated pest management has become the accepted philosophy of pest control.

With the advent of genetic engineering, the increased interest of the agricultural sector in "biorationale" products, and new application technologies, scientists at N.C. State University began discussions with the National Science Foundation regarding the formation of a University/Industry Cooperative Research Center.

Within the Engineering Directorate of National Science Foundation, there has been a program to establish such centers which create a partnership between industrial science and university research. In 1990, when NSF was approached, of the 45+ centers already established, only one had a direct relationship with agriculture, the Center for Aseptic Processing already located at N.C. State University.

During 1990-91, Dr. Harold Coble brought together sufficient industry members and the Industry/University Center for Integrated Pest Management was approved and established in 1991. In a competitive process, seven projects were funded, essentially for a three-year period. Because of limited funds, all the projects involved NCSU scientists, but all were of regional or national significance. Until 2006, CIPM funded a variety of projects ranging from small, one-year "seed money" efforts to longer-term regional programs. Virtually all of the research funded involved multistate problems and solutions.

With the challenge of new and more stringent regulation of agricultural production and the probable adoption of integrated pest management as a national goal for agriculture, CIPM has positioned itself as a provider of unbiased IPM knowledge and technology. We seek to expand our membership base to include more grower associations, food processors, chemical and biotechnical firms, government agencies, and other agricultural groups with an interest in affordable and safe food production. To that end, CIPM has now begun planning and sponsoring key workshops and forums involving national IPM issues, including "Communications in IPM," a new series of invitation-only meetings to engage diverse stakeholders for key IPM issues. For more information, lick on "What We Do" in the left panel.