Phillip Roberts
Phillip Roberts has served The University of Georgia in the College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences as an extension entomologist since 1996. He dedicates his expertise to developing integrated cotton and soybean insect pest management programs, a critical component of sustaining profitable production. He serves the community by providing comprehensive extension and outreach educational programs to support Georgia’s cotton and soybean producers.
He was among the first to recognize the link between cotton lint quality and stink bug injury. His work with the damage assessment for monitoring and treating boll sucking bug activity has become a cotton industry standard. He has been an instrumental force as farmers transitioned from conventional production and pest management practices to transgenic Bt cotton and related management strategies. Richey Seaton, executive director for the Georgia Cotton Commission, said “Roberts’ work has contributed to significant savings for our producers and to the enhancement of our cotton quality and quality of life, overall, in Georgia.”
Roberts is a leader in information dissemination and training for producers, crop consultants, cotton scouts, agribusiness personnel, the agrichemical industry, and other Extension professionals.
He has been invited as a featured speaker for more than 160 national and international meetings, and he teaches at most cotton scout schools conducted in the state. He organizes the largest of these schools held annually at the Rural Development Center in Tifton.
Roberts’ commitment to scholarship is evident in the various works he has published in the Beltwide Cotton Conferences, the largest international cotton research conference in the world. He contributes to the Georgia Pest Management Handbook, co-authored a field guide of cotton stinkbugs, and publishes the widely-recognized Cotton Pest Management Newsletter. In addition, Roberts helped secure more than $1 million for insect pest management research, and he continues to make significant contributions to the field.