It's A Bug-Eat-Bug World

Settled inside Rincon-Vitova Insectaries in Ventura (established 1959) is California-licensed pest control advisor (PCA) Ron Whitehurst. For the past 30 years, Ron has been focused on the importance of organic methods of farming and gardening. At Rincon-Vitova he advises clients, educators, gardeners, farmers and others about the importance of biological pest control.

“It’s a bug-eat-bug world out there, so let’s go with the flow,” he says. “Let’s use natural processes to grow our food.”

Ron earned his bachelor of arts degree in biology from Indiana University and worked as a writer, later organizing an organic growers association in Indianapolis. In 1979, Ron moved to California and quickly earned his PCA license. While attending organic farmers meetings and continuing-education conferences, his interest was sparked by a particularly engaging speaker who had a distinctive message about how beneficial insects work at the farm level. That speaker, Everett “Deke” Dietrick, a pioneer in commercial biocontrol, became Ron’s mentor and then his father-in-law.

Today, Ron works with his wife, Jan Dietrick (Deke’s daughter), running Rincon-Vitova. “Our business focus is farmers who use the most toxic pesticides as well as livestock managers for fly control.” He says, “But we are open to helping gardeners and landscapers and others.”

By providing farms and gardens with both beneficial insects and advice on how to attract those bugs naturally, Ron says, “We are promoting knowledge and tools to help mitigate the ecosystem collapse that is taking place along with climate change, because we depend on functioning ecosystems.” Currently there is a big market for transitioning farms from pesticides to using biological pest control.

Rincon-Vitova also facilitates learning about regenerative organic practices, which include cover cropping, using compost and building insect habitats to increase the organic matter and life in the soil that is damaged and depleted from the use of chemical fertilizers, synthetic pesticides and tillage.

All these insects that eat other insects,” Ron says. “We encourage people to look at a pest … there should be four or five insects eating it directly, and parasites that would be feeding on the insides. Biologically based control has the answers to how we do that.”

For more information on Rincon-Vitova Insectaries visit RinconVitova.com.