Ray F. Smith

:"For other uses, see Ray Smith".----Dr. Ray F. Smith (1919 - 1999) was an American entomologist and educator. He received the 1997 World Food Prize with Dr. Perry Adkisson for their shared achievement in developing and propounding the practice of Integrated Pest Management programs by farmers around the world.

Educational career

Dr. Smith was born in California in 1919 and received degrees in entomology from the University of California, Berkeley. From 1946 until his retirement in 1982, he was a professor of entomology at his alma mater, serving as department chair from 1959 to 1973. Under his leadership, the department expanded its faculty and diversified its programs and was soon recognized as the research and education leader in its field.

Early work in pest management

Smith was involved in organizing Pest Control Associations among California’s alfalfa producers in the 1940s, through which farmers, technicians, and researchers collaborated in analyzing and managing the effects and costs of arthropod pests. He led a ten-year project that tested his concept of “supervised control” of key alfalfa pests. The success of this approach and the enormous biological, ecological, and economic data he gathered would later evolve into the wider model of Integrated Pest Management through his work with Adkisson and other colleagues.

Growth of IPM

As IPM became more common among farmers of various crops in America, Smith continued to push for the exploration of all the scientific, technical, and educational issues involved in IPM strategies – and not only in the context of U.S. agriculture. He took the lead in forming the Food and Agriculture Organization’s Panel of Experts on Integrated Pest Control in 1967 and headed this group from its inception until 1982.

He also directed the Consortium for International Crop Protection from 1979 to 1982, which grew out of a U.S. Agency for International Development collaboration with the University of California’s efforts to investigate the potential of and promote IPM. A key priority was expanding IPM’s philosophy and practice in developing areas and working directly with farmers, experts, and policymakers in Latin America, Asia, and Africa to specially assess the pest-control needs of those regions. He organized the FAO’s 1974 Global Project for Integrated Pest Management of Major Crops, lectured and published prolifically overseas, and consulted to USAID and the FAO on food production and pest control issues.

Impact of IPM

Since their inception over thirty years ago, IPM programs have saved farmers millions of dollars by reducing reliance on chemicals to fight insects, fungi, weeds, and other pests. More, they have improved production rates and the ecological impact of agriculture – making the world’s food supply at once larger, safer, and more stable.

His groundbreaking work and continuous dedication to better and more sustainable protections of the world’s crops against the devastation of pests led to his 1981 induction into the National Academy of Science and his receipt of the Founders Memorial and C.W. Woolworth awards from the Entomological Society of America and the World Food Prize. Dr. Smith died on August 23, 1999, at age 80.