A destructive pest that was first confirmed in Iowa last year has spread to at least 40 states. U.S. Department of Agriculture researchers are trying to learn how they can minimize damage the brown marmorated stink bug (BMSB) can do to various crops. Don Weber is a USDA entomologist. “It attacks various vegetable, fruit and field crops, so apples, pears and peaches it’s definitely on, especially as they’re maturing,” Weber says. “A lot of times that damage is hidden until you cut open the fruit, which is very unfortunate. It can affect soybeans as well…and tomatoes and peppers.”

The stink bug can also known to attack a popular summertime favorite in Iowa — sweet corn. Weber, working at a USDA facility near Washington D.C., is trapping stink bugs to study their attractants or pheromones. “We could use this as a management tool to monitor, to make sure we know where the pest is, and how high the numbers are, so we know what we might do about it, but also potentially to use it to trap it out of the crop or near houses where we don’t want it to be,” Weber says.

The brown marmorated stink bug came to the U.S. about 15 years ago from Asia, so Weber says researchers are looking THERE for natural predators. “And they’re mainly these tiny wasps, egg parasitoids, they’re harmless, they don’t sting. Their main objective in life is to find stink bug eggs and to make sure it doesn’t end up a stink bug, it ends up a wasp,” Weber says. In addition to their destructive behavior, the stink bug – as you might expect – has a foul odor. Weber, however, doesn’t find it all that offensive.

“The stink of the stink bug is fairly similar to cilantro,” Weber says. “That doesn’t mean necessarily you’d want to eat it and I’m sure that’s repulsive to the predators that it’s trying to repel.” The first breeding infestations of brown marmorated stink bugs were confirmed in October 2012 in Scott County. Stink bugs have been an especially big problem in mid-Atlantic states — causing $52 million worth of damage last year to peach and apple crops there.

(Radio Iowa)

Some Iowa corn growers who planted a genetically-modified variety called B-T corn are finding their plants no longer resist corn rootworms — and some crops are being badly damaged. Darwin Bettin, who farms in northwest Iowa’s Sac County, says he’s used B-T corn for a decade and it’s always kept away the pests, until now.  “I could see corn laying down in my field and none of my neighbors fields,” Bettin says. “I was old enough, I told my wife, if I didn’t know better, that looks like rootworm damage.”

Since the corn was bred by Monsanto to resist rootworms, farmers didn’t have to use pesticides. Now, some are resorting back to chemicals as the insect has developed a resistence to the B-T corn. While the trend is a setback for farmers, it’s a boon for farm chemical makers like Philadelphia-based F-M-C, where spokesman Aaron Locker says profits are up. Locker says, “FMC reported a 9% increase in first quarter sales in its agriculture solutions business and 20% increase in fourth 4th quarter sales.” That’s due in part to the resistance in corn rootworms.

Bettin lost half his crop to rootworm damage and says his local seed dealer refunded some of his money, but not Monsanto. Bettin says, “As much money as those companies have made off of us selling us those traits over the years, I think they’d be willing to step up to the plate when their trait doesn’t work.” A spokesman for B-T maker Monsanto says the company is investing millions of dollars in research to bring new products to market. The federal E-P-A says it could restrict the future use of B-T seed, but Monsanto is working to introduce new varieties while encouraging farmers to rotate crops.

(Radio Iowa)