Madeline Mellinger founded Glades Crop Care, Inc., an independent agricultural consulting firm based in Jupiter, Florida, in 1972. Since then, she has served as the Company's President. Crop Care offers a wide range of services to commercial agriculture and carries out contract research focusing on emerging pest management technologies and systems.

Together with her husband, who is Crop Care's Technical Director, Madeline pioneered the implementation of prevention-based IPM systems in several crops, saving Florida farmers millions of dollars by reducing the volume of pesticides needed to bring high-quality crops to market. Crop Care has worked with clients in developing state-of-the-art information management and worker protection systems, and has won wide acclaim for its efforts to credibly document the linkages between IPM adoption and reductions in the use of high-risk pesticides.

Madeline has served the agricultural community through a number of leadership positions and project activities. She has served as an advisor to the U. S. Congress, National Academy of Sciences, the Environmental Protection Agency, the federal and state Extension Service and various universities. Beginning in 1992 she was appointed by three successive U. S. Secretaries of Agriculture to the National Sustainable Agriculture Advisory Council which reports directly to the Secretary. In 1995 she was elected chairman for two years.

Since 1997, Madeline has served as the appointed Florida delegate to the Council for Agriculture Research, Extension, and Teaching (CARET) of the Board on Agriculture of the National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges. She was invited to join the Florida Ag Council in 1999 and is presently vice president. She serves on several University of Florida advisory boards including the Council of Advisors for Research and Extension in the College of Natural Resources, the Everglades Research and Education Center Advisory Council, and the Assistant Vice President for External Relations' Advisory Committee. She has been a Florida delegate to the National Leadership Seminar since 1999. She worked as co-chair of the University of Florida strategic planning committee, Florida First, and in 2001 co-chaired the second state-wide Florida First meeting.

Madeline has served on the Editorial Advisory Board of Citrus and Vegetable Magazine since 1996. She served for five years on the Board of Directors of the American Society of Agricultural Consultants. In 1991 Madeline was President of the National Alliance of Independent Crop Consultants, and she served on the Board and held other offices for seven years. Glades Crop Care, Inc., was selected as a founding Supporter of EPA's Pesticide Environmental Stewardship Program, 1996. She was a founding member in 1991 of the Foundation for Environmental and Agricultural Education (FEAE) and still serves on the board. She and her husband have been called the "godparents" of the UF Doctor of Plant Medicine Program by the program's director, Dr. George Agrios. They have been ardent supporters of the programs, especially, through FEAE.

In June of 2001, Madeline was honored by being elected to The Farm Foundation's Bennett Agricultural Round Table. She will receive the Florida Extension Services' Service to Agricultural award in September of 2001.