Who you gonna call

1
Who you gonna call?
BUGBUSTERS!
2
30-100 Acres Treated With Insecticides Annually

• Pecans
• Pistachios
• Raspberries
• Rice
• Spinach
• Strawberries
• Sugarcane
• Sunflowers
• Sweet Corn

• Alfalfa
• Asparagus
• Avocados
• Blueberries
• Green Peas
• Hazelnuts
• Hops
• Nectarines
• Peanuts

3
Historical Perspective

• For 250 million years, insects ate wild plants.
• Agriculture was begun 10,000 years ago.
• Wild plants domesticated
• Insecticide spraying of crop pests began 150
  years ago.
• 50 of U.S. crop production eaten by insects

4
Scene 1

• Many crops are not native to America and they are
  eaten by native bugs.
• The bugs were here first
• Rice
• Hazelnuts

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The Rice Plant

• Non Native Species
• Introduced in the 1690s
• Grass Species
• Grows Best in Flooded Fields

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Rice Water Weevil

• Native Species
• Eats Grasses
• Lives in Aquatic Environments

7
Rice Water Weevil Damage

• Rice water weevil root pruning reduces yield by
  20-40

Untreated
Treated
8
Hazelnuts (Filberts) Oregon

• Not Native
• 33,000 acres
• Began in the 1920s

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Filbertworm

• Native to the U.S. northwest.
• Fed on acorns and oaks.

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Filbertworm (Larva)

• In unsprayed orchards, 20 of the nuts contain
  filbertworms.
• 95 acres sprayed.
• Infestations reduced to 0.1.

11
Scene 2

• For centuries, plants and bugs lived together
  native peoples ate for free. Then the
  businessmen came to feed the city people.
• Blueberries
• Pecans

12
Maine Wild Blueberry Fields

• Native Americans ate wild blueberries fresh and
  dried.
• Seacoast families picked blueberries for free
  in the 1800s.

13
Wild Blueberry Commercialization Maine

• Timberlands cleared/ trespassers stopped (1920s)
• Canned production began
• Today 80 million pounds/year
• In 1924, several large shipments of canned
  blueberries were condemned by the FDA because of
  maggots

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Blueberry Maggot
Each female fly can lay up to 100 eggs.
15
Spraying Started
16
Native Habitat of the Pecan
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Pecan Weevil (Feeds only on Pecan and Hickory)
Adult
Larva
18
Wild Pecan Trees and Insects

• Trees produce light crop for 4-7 years.
• Insects starve.
• Trees produce large crop every 5-8 years.
• Insects cannot destroy all nuts.

19
Pecan Orchards in Southeast (160,000 Acres)
Stable annual production achieved with
fertilization, zinc, irrigation, and pruning.
20
Pecan Weevil

• Populations increased dramatically in orchards.
• In the 1930s, pecan weevils destroyed about 40
  of the pecans in the southeast.
• Insecticide applications reduce populations to
  lt1.

21
Scene 3

• For a long time, many crops were grown in America
  with no need for insecticides and then new bug
  species showed up.
• -The New Bugs on the Block-
• Asparagus
• Avocados

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Asparagus California/Washington

• 85 of U.S. production
• 165 million pounds/year
• Began in 1900

23
Asparagus Aphids

• Feeds only on asparagus ferns
• Native to Europe
• First found
• 1969 New Jersey
• 1979 Washington
• 1984 California

24
Washington Asparagus
Asparagus aphid reduced asparagus plant stands by
35 in 1980.
Damaged Ferns
25
California Asparagus
Permanent reduction by 85 in Riverside County
production beginning in 1988.
Asparagus Aphid Flight
26
Asparagus Aphid Insecticide Use Washington/
California
Without an effective insecticide for asparagus
aphid control, a total collapse of the California
and Washington asparagus industry would occur in
one to two years.
WSU
27
California Avocados

• 380 million pounds
• 360 million in value
• All sold fresh

28
Avocado Thrips

• First Noted in California in 1996
• Feeds on Surface
• Not a Problem Elsewhere in the World
• Feeds only on avocados

29
Avocado Thrips Fruit Scarring
40 Reduction in Value
30
Insecticide Use in California Avocados
31
Scene 4

• Without insecticides, crops would have
  bug-feeding blemishes, unappealing to consumers.
• Nectarines
• Sunflowers

32
Nectarines

• California produces 600 million lbs/yr.
• 100 million in value

33
CaliforniaNectarine Production
Chemical Insecticides Introduced
34
Western Flower Thrips

• 0.03 in. long
• Control of the western flower thrips with
  insecticides makes profitable nectarine growing
  possible in CA.

35
Western Flower Thrips Damage

• Up to 80 incidence when unsprayed
• Value of fruit reduced by 25

36
Sunflower ND/SD/MN

• 1.8 million acres
• 80 for oil
• 20 for food (500 million pounds)

37
Sunflower Seed Damage Insect Feeding
Lygus Bug (Kernel Brown Spot)
Banded Sunflower Moth
38
Sunflower Seeds Food Standards

• Insect Damage lt2
• Kernel Brown Spot lt0.5

39
Sunflower Seed Food Production (ND/SD/MN)

• 100 of acres sprayed twice with insecticides.
• Without insecticide sprays, insect damage would
  exceed 10.

40
Scene 5

• Cancer causing substances would be present in
  food without insecticides to kill bugs.
• Peanuts
• Pistachios

41
Peanuts
3 billion pounds of peanuts produced in
TX/OK/GA/AL/FL.
42
Lesser Cornstalk Borer (LCB)Damage and
Aspergillus Fungi

• 94 correlation between LCB damage and
  Aspergillus fungi.
• 50 of LCB larvae carried fungal spores.

43
Aflatoxins

• Chemical metabolites produced by Aspergillus
  fungi.
• Aflatoxins are
• Mutagenic
• Carcinogenic
• Teratogenic
• Acutely toxic

44
Aspergillus flavus on peanut

• 20 ppb standard for aflatoxin in food.
• Insecticides have reduced aflatoxin levels by 109
  ppb.

45
Pistachios

• California produces 350 million pounds/yr
• The shell opens on the tree.
• Some of the protective hulls split on the tree.

46
Navel Orangeworm (NOW) Damage Pistachios

• 80 acres sprayed.
• Infestation damage reduced from 4 to less than
  1.

47
Pistachio and Aflatoxin

• NOW-infested kernels account for 84 of the
  aflatoxin in pistachio nuts
• A 1 NOW infestation can produce aflatoxin levels
  above the standard.

48
Scene 6

• Many bugs are killed to keep them out of canned
  and frozen foods.
• Spinach
• Raspberries

49
Raspberries

• Oregon and Washington
• 87 million pounds
• Frozen

50
Raspberry Hand Harvest 1940s

• 380 hours/acre
• 1220 / acre (1985)

51
Raspberry Mechanical Harvest

• 95 of acres
• Reduces costs and labor required
• Insects harvested with berries

52
Raspberries Contaminated by Insects

• FDA requirement 4 larvae/ 500 g
• Most processors require zero

53
Raspberry Spraying Before Harvest
Insecticides Remove 98 of the Insects.
54
Organic Raspberries
Organic Raspberries are Hand-Picked
55
Spinach
100 million pounds of processed spinach (frozen,
canned) are produced in OK/AR/TX.
Crystal City, Texas City Hall
56
Green Peach Aphid
The primary pest of spinach in the 3 states.
57
Spinach
Aphids are harvested with the spinach.
Aphids on Spinach Leaves
58
Spinach Aphid Allowances FDA

• 1930s 500 aphids/pound of spinach
• 1972 250 aphids/pound of spinach

59
Spinach
In the 1940s 20 of the spinach was plowed under
and not harvested due to high aphid population.
Field Being Plowed Under
60
Scene 7

• Without insecticides to kill bugs, there would be
  no sweet corn grown in Florida and no beer.
• -This bugs for you-
• Hops
• Sweet corn

61
U.S. growers produce enough hops each year to
flavor 9 billion gallons of beer.
62
Hop Aphid

• Infests 100 of U.S. Hop Acreage (Northwest)

63
Hop Aphid
Aphid Mouth Part

• Aphids suck cell sap.

64
Aphid Honeydew (Whitish Area)
Aphids excrete large amounts of sugar which pass
through their digestive system.
65
Hop Cones
With Sooty Mold
Healthy Cone
Sooty mold grows on the honeydew.
66
Hop Vines
Aphid Infested
Aphids Killed
Without insecticides, 100 of Northwest hops
would be unmarketable due to sooty mold resulting
from aphid feeding.
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Sweet Corn

• Florida is the number one fresh sweet corn state.
• 560 million pounds/year

68
Corn Earworm
Male
Female
Baby Larva
Each female moth lays 1,500 fertilized eggs on
corn plants.
69
Florida Sweet Corn
Without insecticides, 96-100 of the ears are
damaged.
70
Florida Sweet Corn Production
The establishment of sweet corn in Florida is
attributable to the introduction of insecticides
in the 1940s.
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Florida Sweet Corn

• Insecticides are sprayed 10-14 times per season.
• Without insecticide sprays, there would be no
  commercial production in Florida.

72
Scene 8

• For many bugs, predatory bugs either do not
  provide effective control or work best in
  combination with insecticides
• -Its a bug eat bug world-
• Green Peas
• Sugarcane
• Alfalfa
• Strawberries

73
Green Peas Washington/Oregon

• 230 million pounds
• Began commercial production in 1920s.

74
Pea Aphid 1934 Outbreak, Oregon
Aphid Damaged
Undamaged

• Half of the crop in Umatilla County destroyed
• All of the crop in the Clatskania area destroyed.

75
Lady Beetle Eating Aphid

• Several hundred thousand lady beetles were
  imported from California and released in 1935.
• Most flew away without attacking the aphid.

76
Louisiana Sugarcane

• 455,000 Acres 3 Billion Pounds of Sugar
• Began in 1720s
• Louisiana is Most Northern Cane Production Region

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Sugarcane Borer Damage

• Not a problem in other cane regions
• In the 1920s, the borers destroyed 30 of the
  Louisiana crop.
• A search for predators began in 1925

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Sugarcane Borer Wasp Parasite
The Wasp
Parasitized Eggs

• 22 predators have been released
• They provide minimal borer control in Louisiana

79
Fire Ant Mounds
Fire Ant Accidentally Introduced into the U.S. in
the 1940s.
80
Fire Ant Killing Sugarcane Borer
81
Control of Sugarcane Borer Louisiana

• Predation 16
• Varietal Resistance 24
• Insecticides 60

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Alfalfa
The Crop
The Product
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Alfalfa Weevil Damage

• Found in the U.S. in 1904, Spread to all states
  by 1970

84
Alfalfa Weevil Damage
50-90 of Eastern Alfalfa Acreage Sprayed in
1970s
85
USDA Alfalfa Weevil Biological Control Program

• 13 Non-Native Parasitic Species Released
• 16 million parasites released
• Cost 22 million

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Biological Control of Alfalfa Weevil
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Biological Control of Alfalfa Weevil

• In Northeastern states, the parasites effectively
  control the alfalfa weevil and insecticide
  spraying is no longer necessary.
• In Southeastern States and California, the
  parasites fail to control the weevil.
• Insecticides continue to be used on 50-90 of the
  acres.

88
California Strawberries

• 20 of the Worlds Supply
• 1.5 Billion Pounds

89
Two Spotted Spider Mite

• Suck Sap From Strawberry Plants
• Size of a Pencil Point

90
Two Spotted Spider Mite Damage
Mite Infested Plant

• Lowers Strawberry Yield by 25

91
Two Spotted Spider Mite Control, 1970s
California Strawberry

• Several Insecticides Cancelled
• Several Insecticides Lost Efficacy
• Several Insecticides Killed Predators
• 450/ A

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Predatory Mite Feeding on Spider Mite

• 320,000 Predators/A Provided Effective Control
• 2,000/A

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Spider Mite Control, Strawberries Current

• New Insecticides Not Harmful to Predators
• 30,000 Predators /A (300) plus 2 Insecticide
  Treatments (141) Provide Effective Control

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• Most U.S. crops are eaten by 1-2 major insect
  species for which chemical insecticides provide
  the most cost-effective solution to prevent large
  crop losses.

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Crop Losses Without Insecticides
million lbs/year
21 560 14000 135 3900
Spinach Sweet Corn Alfalfa Asparagus Rice
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Net Return Ratio Insecticide Expenditure
return/ spent
Asparagus Avocados Blueberries Alfalfa
66 13 97 10
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