You have chosen fresh sweet corn for dinner. You peel back the husks to reveal the golden kernels only to discover a worm is giving it a taste test first. Suddenly your appetite has disappeared.

Controlling the European corn bore, the most common pest in Iowa, along with other insect pests and weeds is the focus of the Midwest Biological Control Conference being held on the ISU campus today and tomorrow.

Tuesday’s conference will be held in the Campanile Room from 1 to 5 p.m. and Wednesday in the Pioneer room from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. The meeting is open to the public.

Students, farmers, Extension personnel and researchers can attend the day-and-a-half long conference to learn more about biological control extension, the controlling of weeds and pests without chemicals, as well as research programs in the Midwest.

John Obrycki, professor in the department of entomology, organized the conference.

“The conference will focus on the research of pest control without pesticides which would be of most interest to agricultural students, however people that are interested in greenhouses and urban landscape might want to attend also,” he said.

Sessions about recent Extension and research accomplishments, along with a discussion about the future of the biological control in the Midwest will be included in the conference.

“Anyone who has a general concern about the environment could learn a lot about the possibilities about being successful without using pesticides,” Obrycki said. “We want people to know what insects are out there and the choices available.”

A speaker from the National Audubon Society, an environmental group, will be speaking at the conference. This afternoon five farmers will be discussing their good results without using pesticides.

Obrycki said there are several farmers who have never used chemicals and are still extremely profitable.

“One farmer has over 2,000 acres and another has worked 29 years without pesticides … all have remained highly successful,” he said.

People may want to learn some of the alternatives that they were not aware of, Obrycki said.

“We want to help to open their eyes so they know they do not have to take risks to the extreme,” he said.

The conference is being sponsored by the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture at ISU and the NCR-125, the regional committee for the biological control of arthropod pests, and will be held in the Memorial Union.