Team's bio-control work on cereal leaf beetle earns USDA recognition

Washington Ag Today May 7, 2010 The Western States Cereal Leaf Beetle Team has received a major accolade from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service. Using biological controls the team was able to minimize negative impacts from cereal leaf beetle, an insect often found in cereal crops that has the potential to reduce yields in Washington by 25 percent.

Washington State University Extension Agronomist Diana Roberts is the team leader.

Roberts: “It is wonderful to get this recognition, because apparently, the award you are mentioning is the 2009 Safeguarding Award from the deputy administrator of APHIS, and it is a national award and so that is quite prestigious in academia to receive that award.”

Apparently biological control work and team efforts have not usually received such recognition from APHIS.

Roberts says the use of wasps to control the cereal leaf beetle will never entirely eliminate the pest but should keep populations at a level where farmers don’t have to spray.

Roberts: “And so that is a savings of $15 per acre per year to farmers, particularly spring wheat growers who would otherwise have to use that money for insecticides to keep their crops protected.”

That’s estimated to add up to 6.75 million dollars in savings annually to the state’s wheat growers.

The Cereal Leaf Beetle Team is comprised scientists from state and federal agencies and universities in seven U.S. states and three Canadian provinces.

I’m Bob Hoff and that’s Washington Ag Today on Northwest Aginfo Net.

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