California Ag Network

Category: Pest/Disease Management

  • $8 Million for Navel Orangeworm Sterile Insect Program

    The U.S. House of Representatives Appropriations Committee recently released an appropriations bill that included $8 million for the facility in Phoenix, AZ that is currently being used to rear sterile navel orangeworm (NOW) for aerial release in California. The facility is part of an area-wide pilot program that the pistachio and almond industries have been interested in developing. For 2020, Congress appropriated $6 million to keep the facility open and start the pilot program. This year, APG led an effort to continue and increase that funding, which included a delegation trip back to Washington, D.C. right before COVID-19 forced much of the city to shut down. This additional $2 million will allow the pilot program to not only continue to conduct research on sterile moth releases, but also begin to expand the breadth of the research. With positive momentum in the House, APG will now turn to lobbying efforts in the U.S. Senate.

    About the Facility
    The Phoenix Sterile Fly Facility was originally commissioned by the cotton industry to raise sterile pink bollworm for area-wide releases in an effort to suppress the pest. The program was even more successful than planned and the cotton industry was recently able to declare pink bollworm eradicated. Now that the facility has excess capacity, pistachio industry leaders have begun breeding sterile NOW for aerial release in California. — By American Pistachio Growers

  • New Traps Cut Off Citrus Greening Pests from Hiding Places

    Researchers across the nation are struggling to end the scourge of citrus greening disease, also known as huanglongbing. The disease renders citrus fruit inedible and eventually kills entire orchards. In Florida alone, from 2012-2016 the disease caused production losses of $4.4 billion and eliminated about 7,900 jobs.

    With economic impact like that, it’s no wonder that previous citrus greening research and mitigation efforts have mainly focused on commercial production. Now, researchers with the Agricultural Research Service’s (ARS) Horticultural Research Laboratory in Fort Pierce, FL, and their collaborators are bringing the citrus greening fight to the suburbs, where citrus trees are popular landscape plantings.

    The Asian citrus psyllid, an insect about the size of an aphid (roughly 1/8 of an inch), carries the bacterium Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus in its salivary glands. As it feeds on citrus leaves, the psyllid transmits the bacterium to the tree. The bacterium then prevents sugars created through photosynthesis from traveling throughout the tree. The result is yellowed leaves, bitter fruit, and eventual tree death.

    Spraying insecticides is not really an option in residential areas because many homeowners either have concerns about insecticides or find it too difficult to adequately treat backyard trees, said ARS research entomologist Joseph Patt.

    “There are virtually no control measures being taken against psyllids in citrus trees growing in residential and commercial landscapes,” he said. “This is important because the psyllid can fly from residential areas to commercial citrus groves. In other words, residential areas provide a kind of refuge for the psyllids because homeowners haven’t had a way to control them in their backyard trees.”

    Leaves of an orange tree infected with Huanglongbing, or citrus greening. The blotchy mottling pattern seen here, along with thickening, are characteristic symptoms of infected leaves.

    Patt and Texas A&M-Kingsville entomologists Andrew Chow and Mamoudou Setamou developed “attract-and-kill” traps to prevent this hide-and-seek, back-and-forth migration of psyllids. The traps, which are hung from citrus trees, are the same color as young citrus foliage and contain a fast-acting insecticide that kills the psyllid. According to Patt, the traps provide an environmentally friendly way for homeowners to help control Asian citrus psyllid and citrus greening disease. The insecticide remains in the device and does not spread to the surrounding foliage. The active ingredient is not toxic to mammals or birds and does not persist in the environment.

    Initial testing was completed last year in the Rio Grande region of Texas. “The results are promising,” Patt said. “Deployment of 20 attract-and-kill devices per test tree resulted in a 90-percent decrease in psyllid eggs compared to unprotected test trees. We are currently working on a design for use in commercial citrus. Psyllids invade citrus groves by first landing in the trees growing along the edge of the grove, so we will run tests to determine if devices placed only on border trees are effective in controlling the psyllid throughout the grove.” – by Scott Elliott, USDA-ARS Office of Communications

  • UCCE Tulare County Dried Plum Program Assists Efforts for Detection of Invasive Beetle

    Following a tip generated by citizen scientists in the Porterville/Tulare area, UC ANR researchers have installed traps to determine the potential for Velvet longhorned beetle, Trichoferus campestris (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae), introduction to the southern San Joaquin Valley. The beetle, also called Mulberry longhorn beetle, is native to Asia and Russia, but now has an extended geographic range across Europe and North America.  The pest is currently established in 4 counties in Utah, with cherries and peaches serving as hosts.

    The Velvet longhorned beetle is not a serious pest in Asia and has only had a low impact on European timber and orchard production.  The insect pest is of concern due to its potential to impact fruit yield and decrease tree longevity. It has been repeatedly intercepted at ports of entry in California; however, it is not known to be established in the state.  Because the pest has a wide host range, affecting over 40 genera of broadleaf and coniferous plants, and is tolerant of dry conditions, researchers and regulators have initiated monitoring efforts for the pest.  Locally, traps have been installed in dried plum and fresh prune orchards in Tulare County.

    The Velvet longhorned beetle may serve as a pest of forests and orchards, and it has been moved internationally on wood packing material and in furniture and home décor. The adult beetle is large (around 1-2 cm), brown, has long antennae, and is nocturnal. Its peak mating activity is in June/July in Utah.  Black Intercept Panel Traps were established in Tulare County in June and will be removed prior to prune harvest in September. — By Elizabeth Fichtner & Houston Wilson, UC Cooperative Extension

  • A New Effective Way to Control Mealybugs in the Vineyard

    Got vine mealybug in the vineyard? Consider mating disruption in your IPM program.  Watch this brief interview with Kent Daane from the UC Cooperative Extension as he shares how it works and how effective their research trials have been throughout the state in utilizing this technology.  Read more about vineyard pest management in American Vineyard Magazine.

  • UC Riverside Discovers First Effective Treatment for Citrus-Destroying Disease

    UC Riverside scientists have found the first substance capable of controlling Citrus Greening Disease, which has devastated citrus farms in Florida and also threatens California.

    The new treatment effectively kills the bacterium causing the disease with a naturally occurring molecule found in wild citrus relatives. This molecule, an antimicrobial peptide, offers numerous advantages over the antibiotics currently used to treat the disease.

    Orange afflicted with Citrus Greening Disease. (UCR)

    UCR geneticist Hailing Jin, who discovered the cure after a five-year search, explained that unlike antibiotic sprays, the peptide is stable even when used outdoors in high heat, easy to manufacture, and safe for humans. 

    “This peptide is found in the fruit of greening-tolerant Australian finger limes, which has been consumed for hundreds of years,” Jin said. “It is much safer to use this natural plant product on agricultural crops than other synthetic chemicals.”

    Currently, some growers in Florida are spraying antibiotics and pesticides in an attempt to save trees from the CLas bacterium that causes citrus greening, also known as Huanglongbing or HLB. 

    “Most antibiotics are temperature sensitive, so their effects are largely reduced when applied in the hot weather,” Jin said. “By contrast, this peptide is stable even when used in 130-degree heat.”

    Jin found the peptide by examining plants such as the Australian finger lime known to possess natural tolerance for the bacteria that causes Citrus Greening Disease, and she isolated the genes that contribute to this innate immunity. One of these genes produces the peptide, which she then tested over the course of two years. Improvement was soon visible. 

    “You can see the bacteria drastically reduced, and the leaves appear healthy again only a few months after treatment,” Jin said.

    Because the peptide only needs to be reapplied a few times per year, it is highly cost effective for growers. This peptide can also be developed into a vaccine-like solution to protect young healthy plants from infection, as it is able to induce the plant’s innate immunity to the bacteria.

    Jin’s peptide can be applied by injection or foliage spray, and it moves systemically through plants and remains stable, which makes the effect of the treatment stronger.

    The treatment will be further enhanced with proprietary injection technology made by Invaio Sciences. UC Riverside has entered into an exclusive, worldwide license agreement with Invaio, ensuring this new treatment goes exactly where it’s needed in plants. 

    “Invaio is enthusiastic to partner with UC Riverside and advance this innovative technology for combating the disease known as Citrus Greening or Huanglongbing,” said Invaio Chief Science Officer Gerardo Ramos. “The prospect of addressing this previously incurable and devastating crop disease, helping agricultural communities and improving the environmental impact of production is exciting and rewarding,” he said. “This is crop protection in harmony with nature.”

    Hailing Jin, Geneticist, UC Riverside

    The need for an HLB cure is a global problem, but hits especially close to home as California produces 80 percent of all the fresh citrus in the United States, said Brian Suh, director of technology commercialization in UCR’s Office of Technology Partnerships, which helps bring university technology to market for the benefit of society through licenses, partnerships, and startup companies. 

    “This license to Invaio opens up the opportunity for a product to get to market faster,” Suh said. “Cutting edge research from UCR, like the peptide identified by Dr. Jin, has a tremendous amount of commercial potential and can transform the trajectory of real-world problems with these innovative solutions.”

    While the long-term effectiveness of this research has not yet been confirmed or published in a scientific journal and the project is still in its early stages, Dr. Jin’s promising findings have resulted in a commercial licensing agreement between UCR and Invaio Sciences. It is not uncommon for researchers to team with commercial licensing partners during the early phases of their studies. In this case, more work still needs to be done to confirm the robustness and viability of this treatment. Additional greenhouse trials are being initiated by Dr. Jin and her team at the citrus-specific Bio-Safety Level-3 Laboratory in Riverside, California. It also is expected that field trials will be conducted to show the effectiveness of the treatment under commercial grove conditions. — By Jules Bernstein, UC Riverside

    Regarding the announcement, Marcy Martin from the California Citrus Research Board shared, “While the release was understandably enthusiastic about potentially promising research and we are heartened by the commercial interest in this peptide, we are looking forward to reviewing complete studies on the effectiveness of this therapy in greenhouse and field studies.

    Importantly, this is not the time to let down our guard.  It continues to be critical for all citrus growers in the state to remain extremely vigilant in protecting their groves against the Asian citrus psyllid and HLB. The psyllid arrived from Mexico in 2008 and is now firmly established in southern California. The first HLB-positive tree was found in residential Los Angeles County in 2012. As of July 3, 2020, 1,926 HLB-affected trees have been identified and removed to slow the spread of the disease in residential areas of Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino counties. Unlike Florida, where HLB has decimated commercial citrus groves, California growers invested in research early through the CRB and have been diligent in applying best-management practices; therefore, the disease has not yet been detected in any commercial groves. The CRB will continue to focus intensive efforts on a variety of promising research to find a solution to HLB.

    Moving forward, we at the CRB are proud to work on behalf of the 3,300-plus California citrus growers to invest in key studies to find a solution to HLB. Citrus growers always have been resilient and resourceful. Together, we will look toward the horizon for a solution to HLB.

    Marcy Martin, President, California Citrus Research Board

    In the meantime, we continue to monitor and review progress in potential therapies, new HLB-resistant varieties, better psyllid control strategies and more. We are enthusiastic about the commercial interest in HLB therapies and look forward to being able to share a range of potential approaches for California citrus growers as research progresses and matures. If you have any questions or would like additional information about the status of this research, please contact CRB President Marcy Martin at 559.708.3791 or marcy@citrusresearch.org.”

  • Additional Commodities Eligible for Coronavirus Food Assistance Program

    Today, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue announced an initial list of additional commodities that have been added to the Coronavirus Food Assistance Program (CFAP), and that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) made other adjustments to the program based on comments received from agricultural producers and organizations and review of market data. Producers will be able to submit applications that include these commodities on Monday, July 13, 2020.  USDA’s Farm Service Agency (FSA) is accepting through Aug. 28, 2020, applications for CFAP, which helps offset price declines and additional marketing costs because of the coronavirus pandemic. USDA expects additional eligible commodities to be announced in the coming weeks.

    “During this time of national crisis, President Trump and USDA have stood with our farmers, ranchers, and all citizens to make sure they are taken care of,” said Secretary Perdue. “When we announced this program earlier this year, we asked for public input and received a good response. After reviewing the comments received and analyzing our USDA Market News data, we are adding new commodities, as well as making updates to the program for existing eligible commodities. This is an example of government working for the people – we asked for input and we updated the program based on the comments we received.”

    USDA collected comments and supporting data for consideration of additional commodities through June 22, 2020.

    Changes to CFAP include:

    • Adding the following commodities: alfalfa sprouts, anise, arugula, basil, bean sprouts, beets, blackberries, Brussels sprouts, celeriac (celery root), chives, cilantro, coconuts, collard greens, dandelion greens, greens (others not listed separately), guava, kale greens, lettuce – including Boston, green leaf, Lolla Rossa, oak leaf green, oak leaf red and red leaf – marjoram, mint, mustard, okra, oregano, parsnips, passion fruit, peas (green), pineapple, pistachios, radicchio, rosemary, sage, savory, sorrel, fresh sugarcane, Swiss chard, thyme and turnip top greens.
    • Expanding for seven currently eligible commodities – apples, blueberries, garlic, potatoes, raspberries, tangerines and taro – CARES Act funding for sales losses because USDA found these commodities had a 5 percent or greater price decline between mid-January and mid-April as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Originally, these commodities were only eligible for marketing adjustments.
    • Determining that peaches and rhubarb no longer qualify for payment under the CARES Act sales loss category.
    • Correcting payment rates for apples, artichokes, asparagus, blueberries, cantaloupes, cucumbers, garlic, kiwifruit, mushrooms, papaya, peaches, potatoes, raspberries, rhubarb, tangerines and taro.

    Additional details can be found in the Federal Register in the Notice of Funding Availability (NOFA) and Final Rule Correction and at www.farmers.gov/cfap.

    Producers have several options for applying to the CFAP program:

    • Using an online portal, accessible at farmers.gov/cfap, allows producers with secure USDA login credentials—known as eAuthentication—to certify eligible commodities online, digitally sign applications and submit directly to the local USDA Service Center.  New commodities will be available in the system on July 13, 2020.
    • Completing the application form using our CFAP Application Generator and Payment Calculator found at farmers.gov/cfap. This Excel workbook allows customers to input information specific to their operation to determine estimated payments and populate the application form, which can be printed, then signed and submitted to their local USDA Service Center.  An updated version with the new commodities will be available on the website on July 13, 2020.
    • Downloading the AD-3114 application form from farmers.gov/cfap and manually completing the form to submit to the local USDA Service Center by mail, electronically or by hand delivery to an office drop box. In some limited cases, the office may be open for in-person business by appointment. Visit farmers.gov/coronavirus/service-center-status to check the status of your local office.

    USDA Service Centers can also work with producers to complete and securely transmit digitally signed applications through two commercially available tools: Box and OneSpan. Producers who are interested in digitally signing their applications should notify their local service centers when calling to discuss the CFAP application process. You can learn more about these solutions at farmers.gov/mydocs.

    Getting Help from FSA

    New customers seeking one-on-one support with the CFAP application process can call 877-508-8364 to speak directly with a USDA employee ready to offer general assistance. This is a recommended first step before a producer engages the team at the FSA county office at their local USDA Service Center.

    All other eligibility forms, such as those related to adjusted gross income and payment information, can be downloaded from farmers.gov/cfap. For existing FSA customers, these documents are likely already on file.

    All USDA Service Centers are open for business, including some that are open to visitors to conduct business in person by appointment only. All Service Center visitors wishing to conduct business with FSA, Natural Resources Conservation Service or any other Service Center agency should call ahead and schedule an appointment. Service Centers that are open for appointments will pre-screen visitors based on health concerns or recent travel, and visitors must adhere to social distancing guidelines. Visitors may also be required to wear a face covering during their appointment. Field work will continue with appropriate social distancing. Our program delivery staff will be in the office, and they will be working with our producers in office, by phone and using online tools. More information can be found at farmers.gov/coronavirus.  

  • Does Adjusting Soil pH Control Clubroot of Brassicas?

    Clubroot disease  can be a serious production issue for broccoli, cauliflower, and other brassicas in the Salinas Valley. The disease  is caused by a unique organism (Plasmodiophora brassicae) that is closely related to ciliate protozoans but is classified in its own taxonomic group. It survives over 20 years as resting spores in the soil that are released as the clubbed root tissue decays. At temperatures above 65 °F, the resting spores release zoospores that swim to host plant roots and infect through root hairs. Once inside the plant, the organism grows into a large multinucleate plasmodium (a multinucleate mass of protoplasm) which stimulates changes in the plant hormones, resulting in enlarged root cells and the characteristic clubbing of the roots (See photo Below). Root infections by the clubroot pathogen can occur in both acid and alkaline soils; however, acidic soil conditions favor the development of the root symptoms. In addition to the main brassica crops, Plasmodiophora can infect arugula, radish, mustard cover crops, and weeds such as shepherd’s purse and even some grasses. Plants that develop severe root swellings will exhibit above ground symptoms (See Photo Above) indicative of non-functioning root systems, which includes yellowing, wilting, poor growth and stunting, drying and death of lower leaves, and eventual plant death.

    Clubroot in the Salinas Valley is mostly controlled by maintaining soil pH above 7.2 to 7.3 by liming. The high pH does not kill the pathogen but inhibits the formation of the root clubs. Soils where control of clubroot by liming is achieved are called “responsive” soils. However, soils where liming is less effective are called “unresponsive” soils.

    In 2020 we had calls regarding the incidence of clubroot on brassicas. In each situation the grower/PCA had soil lab results that indicated that the soil pH was greater than 7.2. To investigate this situation, a small study was conducted. At three fields soil was collected from symptomatic and asymptomatic areas of the crop and soil pH was determined using a pH meter at the UCCE or UC Davis Analytical Lab. The results shown in Table 1 indicate that clubroot was more severe in soils with lower soil pH levels. These findings are consistent with what we know about clubroot, that higher pH soils should have less concern with this disease.

    So why did clubroot occur in soils that had  test pH values greater than 7.2? It is important to keep in mind that soils have a great deal of inherent variability. The goal is to determine if the soil pH for a 5 or 10 acre field is ≥7.2. This is typically done by collecting 15 – 20 soil cores from various parts of the field and mixing them together as a composite sample. However, if sample collection by chance missed areas of lower soil pH, the lab results may be skewed to represent areas of the field that had relatively higher pH values. If this is the case, such a sample could have an artificially high pH (greater than 7.2) while some parts of the field may have a lower pH value. One way to have greater confidence in the soil pH is to collect more soil cores in fields where clubroot disease has been noted in the past.

    At present, we have not seen evidence in Monterey County that soils are unresponsive to liming or that the liming treatment is failing to control clubroot, given variability in soil pH and pH testing. In our intensive vegetable production system, soil pH tends to decrease over time through the use of ammonium fertilizers. The loss of calcium, magnesium and potassium from crop removal and leaching can also contribute to lower soil pH on lighter soils. Given the longevity of clubroot resting spores in the soil, it is important to maintain a liming program to assure that soil pHs are above 7.2 to 7.3 to thoroughly suppress clubroot throughout the field. – By Richard Smith, UCCE Vegetable Crops & Weed Science Farm Advisor, and Steve Koike, TriCal Diagnostics

    Table 1. Three evaluations of soil pH in clubroot affected fields

    Typical clubbing of broccoli roots

  • Pierce’s Disease/Glassy-Winged Sharpshooter Continuation Referendum Passes

    The Pierce’s Disease & Glassy-Winged Sharpshooter (PD/GWSS) Referendum, conducted this spring, passed with 78 percent approval of California winegrape growers. All winegrape producer entities that paid the assessment on grapes crushed in 2019 received ballots and 49 percent cast ballots. Assessment funds are used for research, outreach, and related activities on PD, GWSS, and other designated pests and diseases of winegrapes.

    “It is heartening to know that California’s winegrape growers continue to see value in the joint effort that we’ve built together with the assessment,” said CDFA Secretary Karen Ross. “Our growers know and understand the importance of research, and – just as importantly – they recognize the value of their ongoing investment in this exemplary partnership between industry and government.”

    The Board advises the CDFA on the use of winegrape assessment funds and has invested over $47 million since 2001 on research and outreach. The Board sets the annual assessment rate, with a maximum of $3.00 per $1,000 of value, at its summer meeting. The annual assessment rate has averaged $1.39 per $1,000 of value and was $1.00 for the 2019 harvest.

    “In these trying times, we appreciate the support of the industry in passing this referendum,” said Domonic Rossini, PD/GWSS Board chair. “The PD/GWSS Board is always focused on growers’ best interests and ensuring our industry has the best research at its back to protect California vineyards from pests and diseases.”

    The PD/GWSS Referendum is conducted every five years by law, and will take place again in 2025. Through the renewal of the assessment, growers’ continued commitment to the industry and government partnership led by the statewide Pierce’s Disease Control Program leverages funding for essential activities, including:

    • Research
    • Maintaining and monitoring GWSS traps
    • Conducting nursery stock shipment inspections
    • Overseeing nursery stock treatments
    • Controlling GWSS using area-wide management programs
    • Operating a biological control program to suppress GWSS populations

  • PMA Launches the Essentials of Produce Safety — Online Professional Training Program

    The Produce Marketing Association (PMA) has announced the launch of its eLearning certificate course Essentials of Produce Safety, an entirely online, affordable and in-depth program covering the key challenges and best practices in produce safety. The course is the first certificate program in PMA’s new educational platform offering, FreshEd Academy. The course was developed in partnership with Intertek Alchemy, the industry leader in produce safety eLearning solutions.

    “FreshEd Academy is our commitment to delivering thought leadership to the produce and floral industries, while providing member partners with innovative, yet affordable, educational solutions” said Gina Jones, VP of Insights and Analytics at PMA. “Essentials of Produce Safety is the first of a number of courses and broader initiatives we are launching that pick up where today’s traditional training programs end.”

    Taught by produce safety experts with real life understanding of the challenges and risks, Essentials of Produce Safety is available to individual learners and employee groups alike, with all enrollees benefitting from:

    • Enhanced produce safety proficiency
    • Improved communication across the organization and supply chain
    • Immediate application of learnings to the work environment

    “It is critically important for produce safety supervisors and managers to have an opportunity to receive education on why they are doing what they do, and to gain insights into how to do it even better,” says course author, instructor and former PMA Chief Science & Technology Officer, Dr. Robert Whitaker. “Essentials of Produce Safety is designed to provide that educational experience; converting staid food safety training into an educational opportunity that cultivates industry leading food safety professionals.”

    Essentials of Produce Safety is delivered entirely online via a device responsive learning management system that enables learners to complete the course anywhere, on any device — desktop, tablet or mobile. The course consists of seven learning modules, a review module, and a certificate exam.

    Essentials of Produce Safety instructor Afreen Malik, Director of Technical Services at International Food Safety adds “understanding the science based fundamental principles of produce safety can help lead to a safer produce supply chain globally. Essentials of Produce Safety helps us to do just that.”

    For more information, visit: https://freshed.academy.

  • Attracting Natural Enemies of Pests to Your Field

    Dr. Eric Brennan is a Research Horticulturist at ARS’s Crop Improvement and Protection Research Unit in Salinas, CA. Dr. Brennan specializes in crop production and climate-smart farming.

    Welcome Dr. Brennan (EB) to Under the Microscope (UM):

    UM – You have a rather novel alternative approach to control insect pests like aphids in lettuce without using pesticides, called conservation biological control. Please explain: 

    EB – Sure, biological control is where we use natural enemies of pests to control them. The approach we used in lettuce is called conservation biological control because we are conserving and enhancing the ability of existing natural enemies to control the aphids by providing habitat and food sources for the natural enemies.  In other words, the natural enemies are already there on the farm and we’re just helping them to be more effective.  Essentially, we’re letting them know that they’re welcome.

    UM – How does this method benefit farmers and gardeners in both short term and long term? 

    EB – Great question. In both the short and long term this can help us reduce our use of pesticides, which is a good thing.  In the long term this can also reduce the ability of the insects to develop resistance to pesticides. When we overuse pesticides, insects can become resistant to them, which makes those pesticides useless in the long run. The cool thing about biological control is that pests don’t usually become resistant to attacks by their natural enemies.  For example, I don’t know of any situations where aphids have been able to evolve a way to consistently avoid being gobbled up by the larvae hungry hoverflies.

    Lettuce aphid, Nasonovia ribisnigri. This pest (about 1-3 millimeters long) of lettuce appeared in California’s Salinas Valley in 1998 and is now found in all lettuce-production areas of that state and Arizona. (Stephen Ausmus, D689-7)

    We worked closely with the industry in developing and validating technologies for a better process control, and for improved pathogen reduction. The industry made huge strides in food safety over the past decade, ever since the 2006 E.coli O157:H7 outbreak involving baby spinach. In recent years, a lot of effort has been placed on prevention of pathogen contamination, and it has resulted in stricter farming practices, better farm worker training, industry-wide food safety standards, supply chain joint efforts to improve food safety, and industry-sponsored research initiatives.

    UM – I understand you’ve done extensive work on using the plant sweet alyssum as part of this strategy. What are the advantages of planting alyssum in your field/garden, and what crop does it protect best?

    EB – The great thing about this plant is that it flowers continuously. And those flowers are providing pollen and nectar that are a food source for adult hoverflies, which are a natural enemy of aphids. When the hoverflies have this food in our lettuce fields, they’re able to go about doing what they do best in searching out all those aphids and help to control them without us having to use pesticides.  This is a system that works really well in lots of vegetables as well as some other crops. Lettuce is probably the best example in the region where I work, Salinas, which is often called the salad bowl of the world.

    UM – It sounds like farmers in this region were already planting alyssum in lettuce, but you found that they were using more field space than was needed, thus limiting their potential crop acreage?  

    EB – That’s right.  My research figured out a new method of planting alyssum in the lettuce fields so farmers didn’t have to give up any field area just for the alyssum.  Essentially, my method involved adding about 500 alyssum plants per acre in between regularly spaced lettuce plants, which was really a win-win for farmers because they still got to plant a full field of lettuce and were still effective in controlling the aphids.

    UM – Alyssum is good for planting lettuce, but you’ve had mixed results planting with broccoli and other vegetables, why? 

    EB – The aphids that infest broccoli and lettuce are different species. The aphid that goes on broccoli is commonly called the cabbage aphid and it’s generally a lot more challenging to control biologically than the several aphid species that get on lettuce.  I haven’t seen a lot of scientific literature explaining exactly why the cabbage aphid is more difficult to control biologically, but there are likely lots of factors.  For example, broccoli has to grow for more time in the field before we’re able to harvest it and so the aphids have more of a chance to cause problems on broccoli than on lettuce. Also, there are differences in the harvested part of the lettuce plant versus the harvested part of broccoli that make the aphids on broccoli challenging. With broccoli you’re producing a flower, and with lettuce you’re just producing a head full of leaves. The broccoli flower has lots of little crevices where aphids can hide and eventually deform the broccoli flower that we eat.

    UM – How do farmers know which insects are beneficial and which are enemies of pests in their fields? 

    EB – This has to do with being trained to recognize pest insects versus beneficial insects. There are lots of good photographs on the web nowadays that can help farmers and gardeners identify beneficial insects versus pests. And of course there’s also the friendly Cooperative Extension farm advisors who are more than happy to help identify these.

    UM – I understand you’re also researching the use of cover crops and compost for improved soil health, carbon sequestration, weed control, and other benefits. What are your findings?

    EB – I love cover crops and have been working with them for much longer than I’ve worked on beneficial insects. So, as you can imagine I could go on for a long time about the different things that we’ve discovered with cover crops. One of the most important recent findings is that frequent cover cropping is extremely important for maintaining soil health in vegetable systems.  In fact, our research suggests that it’s far more important than using compost.  Interestingly, these cover crops can also help us conserve some of those beneficial insects that I was just talking about with aphid control.

    Various patterns of intercropping alyssum with organic romaine lettuce for aphid control were assessed at ARS fields in Salinas, California

    Various patterns of intercropping alyssum with organic romaine lettuce for aphid control were assessed at ARS fields in Salinas, California (Stephen Ausmus, D3050-3)

    UM – We’re right in the middle of gardening season. What advice do you have for home gardeners who are trying to keep pests out of their gardens?

    EB – Probably the most important advice is to pay attention to what’s going on in your garden. When you see something, be it an insect or some other organism, try to figure out what it’s doing and why it’s there. Perhaps it’s a harmless thing, but it also might be a beneficial organism or a pest. Here’s an example from my home garden. I recently learned that paper wasps were helping to control caterpillar pests on my kale that I had growing in my front yard. I figured that out when I was harvesting kale one day and a wasp landed on some kale that I was holding and grabbed a caterpillar larvae and flew off with it. Wow, that was cool.

    UM – What about weeds? How can gardeners control weeds in their gardens?

    EB – Great question. Probably the most important thing is to pull weeds as soon as you seen them to prevent them from setting seeds in your garden. Eventually you’ll deplete what we call the weed seed bank in the soil. If you don’t have weed seed in your soil, you won’t have weeds. In my home garden and in my research fields we work to control weeds when they are young and vulnerable and prevent them from producing seed.

    UM – Okay, let’s let the cat out of the bag. You are a successful YouTuber, with your own YouTubeYouTube channel and dozens of videos, mainly focusing on topics we discussed today. Your video on making an inexpensive hoe for gardening has over 150k views. My favorite is the video comparing cover cropping to juggling. Please elaborate. 

    EB – Ha. I figured you’d ask about this. My first video was created in 2013 and describes my alyssum research that we talked about earlier.  It now has around 19k views and gets about 100 views per week.  That’s impact.  I became a scientist to help farmers produce food sustainably and efficiently, and YouTube allows me to communicate this in an efficient and fun way (i.e., juggling).  Farmers and others love YouTube because it allows them to learn things when it’s convenient for them.  And I love it because it allows me to share my results to a broad audience with visuals that help to tell the story behind the research.  One of my favorite recent videos is “Bamboo, Oil and Ice Cream.  Why scientists need to be on YouTube.”  I’m hooked on video and will use it for the remainder of my career to share the research that I’m privileged do on behalf of the American public.