About Dr. Hruska

Allan is an expert in international development, with over thirty years of global experience leading, researching, teaching, and advising at universities, the United Nations, NGOs, civil society, and funding organizations, including USAID. He has lived and worked in eight countries for over thirty years. He has led major programs, including being the founding Director of Global IDEAS at Michigan State University, the Principal Technical Coordinator for the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization Global Program on Fall Armyworm, and the founding Director of NicaSauld in Nicaragua.

With the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) he led the development and implementation of a global strategy to combat the invasive pest, the fall armyworm, that threatens food security and livelihoods in Africa and Asia. He has published over 40 peer-reviewed articles, book chapters, reviews, and technical guides, and has secured over $75 million in external funding. He is passionate about advancing evidence-based policies and practices that enhance food systems' resilience, equity, and sustainability. He has taught at Zamorano University in Honduras, the Universidad Nacional Agraria in Nicaragua, North Carolina State University, Michigan State University, and the University of Michigan.

In addition to teaching and advising students at U of M, Allan is currently working with an NGO in Kenya to demonstrate the effectiveness and adoption by smallholder maize farmers in the use of simple, effective, and accessible fall armyworm techniques, especially the use of soil as a control tactic.

Allan received his BS and MS in biology from the University of Michigan, an MSc from Duke University, and a Ph.D. from North Carolina State University. He has served on international technical and policy committees for the European Food and Safety Authority and USAID.

Smallholder Management of Fall Armyworm

The overwhelming majority of global maize farmers are smallholders, usually producing less than two acres of maize to feed their families. However, most global maize production technology has been made for large-scale farmers who grow their maize for international markets where maize is used for animal feed, converted into ethanol, or used as ingredients in processed foods. These farmers often receive subsidies from their governments, including minimum price guarantees and subsidized crop insurance. This dramatically different economic and production context means that the technologies and costs that make sense for large-scale, subsidized farmers often don’t make sense for smallholder farmers. Smallholder farmers require different approaches and technologies, not attempts at “technology transfer”. Since fall armyworm (FAW) reached Africa in 2016 FAO and other organizations have been funding local scientists at local universities and national programs, in partnership with local scientists and institutions to find solutions for the management of FAW that are effective, safe, low-cost, and accessible to smallholder maize farmers. This research and practice continue to elucidate the agroecology of small, usually diversified maize fields that are typical of smallholders. Diverse maize fields are rich ecosystems of natural chemicals and organisms that can be used to successfully manage FAW. One very promising tactic is the use of soil from the maize fields, applied directly into the whorl. Ongoing studies show that placing a handful of soil into maize plants with active FAW infestation can be a highly effective, safe, low-cost, and accessible control tactic for smallholder maize farmers.