James Ridsdill-Smith is a national leader and key member and mentor of teams developing control of important Australian insect pests based on a thorough understanding of their biology and ecology. Benefits from selecting and introducing dung beetles to fill a spring gap have included a permanent reduction in the abundance of an important outdoor pest, the bush fly. Redlegged earth mite which has been a major pest of pastures, crops and vegetables in Australia for 80 years is now being successfully controlled across southern Australia with a single spring treatment, timed accurately to mite biology, using the innovative package TIMERITE®.