Global biological control schools will share their knowledge at CATIE's international congress

• The event will take place from September 16 to 18 at the CATIE campus in Costa Rica, with the participation of international experts, producers, and innovative companies in the field.

As part of the current trend toward sustainable and regenerative agriculture, biological pest and disease control has become increasingly important. This practice takes advantage of the natural enemies of organisms that cause damage or disease to food crops, thereby contributing to the reduction of synthetic pesticides.

This topic has been extensively studied by agricultural research centers around the world, and this year CATIE (Tropical Agricultural Research and Higher Education Center) will bring together the most important of these schools at the International Congress on Biological Control: “Towards Regenerative and Sustainable Agriculture.” The congress will bring together the experiences and contributions of the German, Spanish, Brazilian, American (US), Italian, and Central American schools.

“We need to produce healthier foods for consumers, and at the same time, markets are increasingly demanding foods with low chemical content. Every year, many chemical control molecules are removed from the market, hence the importance of biological control,” explained Dr. Luis Pocasangre, director general of CATIE, who will be one of the main speakers at the conference on behalf of the Central American School.

The congress will take place from September 16 to 18, 2025, at the CATIE campus in Turrialba, Costa Rica. In addition to the participation of leading international experts on the subject, it will feature contributions from producers who apply biological control on a daily basis on their farms and innovative private companies that implement this practice in Latin America and the Caribbean.

As part of the congress, there will also be a research poster competition on biological control, as well as a workshop on strengthening biological control in public-private projects.

General registration is now open at a cost of $600. Producers and students can participate in the conference at a special price of $420. To register and view the event program, please visit the website https://controlbiologico.catie.ac.cr/

This congress is part of CATIE's efforts to promote regenerative and sustainable agriculture in Latin America and the Caribbean.