Why the need for a Pest Management Field Biologist?

The exacting and ever more demanding requirements of the food industry and its supply chain have resulted in pest management technicians and contractors providing more highly qualified personnel to undertake the necessary inspection, planning, risk assessment and strategy work.
This new approach has led to the Australian Environmental Pest Managers Association (AEPMA) initiative to provide a formal development program for specialist role of Pest management Field Biologist

What does the Field Biologist do?

The Field Biologist plays a vital role in the pest management strategy for food industry operations. Working closely with the pest management technicians, the Field Biologist will:

• Determine the current levels of pest activity, their detection, prevalence and appropriate management;
• Inspect the control processes being applied, audit the quality and sufficiency of the pest management/IPM related records and evaluate and determine trend analysis;
• Work in with site Quality Assurance, Food Safety and Pest Management personnel to examine and advise on alternate and additional controls that could be introduced to mitigate the risk of pest activity, without affecting the HACCP and GMP requirements of the operation; and
• Provide advice on the typical habits, life cycle, sources, feeding needs and effective control methods for the pests present and for the prevention of pests going forward.

Ultimately, the Field Biologist becomes the central point of contact between food businesses, and pest management companies (and auditors). The Field Biologist is as skilled in meeting legislative and certification requirements as he or she is in developing Integrated pest Management (IPM) Programs. 

Successful Qualified Field Biologists automatically become members of the Institute of Field Biologists.