Lex Dillon

Biography

Lex Dillon – Horticulture NZ Life member

Lex has recently retired from approximately 40 years of work, in and around the horticultural industry.

His last 25 years were with the NZ Hothouse group of companies, where Lex had a variety of roles encompassing sales and marketing, human resources and, most recently, managing the glasshouse production operations.

Lex was a member of the Tomatoes NZ board for almost 20 years and was made a life member of Horticulture NZ in 2021.

For the last 2 years Lex has been providing a grower’s overview to the ALT- Tomatoes NZ project that is investigating and trialling biological control systems in tomato greenhouses.

What’s new for IPM including trial updates on BCAs

There is a real pressure for growers to adopt effective and sustainable pest control methods. Growers need economic crop production, maintenance of our social licence to produce and, to meet customer requirements

Conventional methods of pest control have reduced efficacy and few replacement products are being introduced to the markets.

Lex’ and Chris’s presentation will discuss where we have come from with the use of bio-controls, the issues that growers face in getting access to offshore bio technology, and current research focussed upon native and endemic beneficial insects.