Congressman Roscoe Bartlett Announces a $5,739,966 Federal Grant to Develop Integrated Pest Management Controls of Stink Bugs
Washington,
Oct 14, 2011 -
Congressman Roscoe Bartlett today announced a federal grant of $5,739,966 to limit damage from the brown marmorated stink bug (BMSB). Congressman Bartlett said, “The Brown Marmorated Stink Bug poses one of the greatest threats to agriculture. Chemical solutions are just temporary fixes. It is imperative that we find a non-chemical solution so that more successful and less expensive integrated pest management controls can be reestablished in our area. Hopefully, this $5,739,966 grant will lead to development of permanent controls before BMSB populations become established in other parts of the country.”
Congressman Bartlett explained that, “This $5,739,966 grant has been awarded to the USDA-ARS North Atlantic Area to develop integrated pest management of stink bugs under a study entitled ‘Biology, Ecology, and Management of Brown Marmorated Stink Bug (BMSB) in Orchard Crops, Small Fruit, Grapes, Vegetables, and Ornamentals.’ This grant will advance the critical effort to develop non-chemical Integrated Pest Management (IPM) controls of this invasive species, halyomorpha halys, also known as the Brown Marmorated Stink Bug or BMSB. This grant is needed to limit damage from this invasive stink bug that poses a great threat to American farmers and growers throughout much of the United States. Thanks to education efforts, such as a Farmers and Growers Town Hall I hosted this spring, farmers in Maryland were alerted to the danger posed by the BMSB. Stop-gap methods aggressively pursued this year by farmers seem to have reduced some of the damage during the early parts of the 2011 growing season. However, these control methods tremendously increased production costs. Farmers and growers need non-chemical Integrated Pest Management methods of the BMSB for long-term, effective protection and sustainable production of their crops.”
Dr. Tracey Leskey, a research entomologist with the USDA-ARS Appalachian Fruit Research Station in Kearneysville, W.Va is the leader of the Brown Marmorated Stink Bug Working Group composed of scientists at other ARS sites as well as scientists at a consortium of colleges and universities whose coordinated studies will be funded by this federal grant. Dr. Leskey made the first definitive identification of the BMSB in the United States. Dr. Leskey and other ARS scientists at the Appalachian Fruit Research Station (AFRS) in Kearneysville, West Virginia will lead a team of researchers working to: (1) establish biology and phenology of BMSB in specialty crops; (2) develop monitoring and management tools for BMSB; (3) establish effective management programs for BMSB in specialty crops; and (4) integrate stakeholder input and research findings to form and deliver practical outcomes for use by farmers and growers. Specifically, scientists at AFRS will develop behaviorally-based monitoring and management strategies for BMSB in tree fruit, while the Beneficial Insects Introduction Research Unit in Newark, Delaware will lead efforts to identify effective native and classical biological control agents. In addition, ARS scientists at the Plant Sciences Institute, Invasive Insect Biocontrol and Behavior at the Beltsville Agricultural Research Center (BARC), Beltsville, MD will lead efforts to identify the BMSB aggregation pheromone. Other collaborating partners on this grant included the University of Maryland, Virginia Tech, Penn State, Rutgers, Cornell, North Carolina State, Oregon State, Washington State and the Northeastern IPM Center.
Congressman Bartlett was introduced to the damage to orchard fruit from the BMSB at a September 8, 2010 tour of Catoctin Mountain Orchards in Thurmont, MD. He recalled, “Because of my background as a farmer and a biological scientist, within 20 minutes of observing the damage first hand and learning about the characteristics of this insect from Dr. Leskey, I recognized that American farmers face a grave threat from the brown marmorated stink bug from Asia. If you were an evil scientist and wanted to invent a terrorist bug, halyomorpha halys, has the qualities you would want. It is an invasive species with no natural predators in the United States. It feeds throughout every stage of its life cycle on nearly every cash crop in American agriculture. This stink bug eats any plant with a thin skin and sugar inside. It doesn’t injure people but overwinters in buildings, forests and rocky crags. It’s an incredible hitch hiker that had already spread to at least 29 states with very disparate climates. These features are why the brown marmorated stink bug could inflict a plague of biblical proportions on America. So I got to work immediately to find solutions to minimize the damage to farmers’ crops.”
Earlier this year, Congressman Bartlett hosted a Farmers and Growers Town Hall on March 18 at Mt. St. Mary’s College featuring a special panel of experts to provide farmers and growers with information about protocols for combating the Brown Marmorated Stink Bug (BMSB) during the 2011 growing season. Panelists included Dr. Tracey Leskey, research entomologist with the USDA-ARS Appalachian Fruit Research Station in Kearneysville, W.Va as well as Dr. Kent Smith from the Agriculture Research Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (ARS/USDA), Dr.Chris Bergh from Virginia Tech and Dr. Alan Dowdy from the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS).”
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Media Coverage/Preview of Rep. Bartlett’s Town Hall for Farmers and Growers
Carroll County Times
Experts expect stink bug population to explode this year
http://tinyurl.com/4lnx7tw
EXCERPT
“Threat level: Biblical. While these stink bugs are a pest in their native lands in Asia, they have natural predators there that keep their populations at bay. So far they seem to be spreading unchecked in the United States, and pose a serious agricultural threat.
“Feeds on: Nearly anything that grows.
“Weaknesses: The insects don't seem to have many.
...”[Tracy Leskey, research entomologist with the USDA-ARS Appalachian Fruit Research Station in Kearneysville, W.Va. and Bryan R. Butler Sr., a regional fruit educator working with the University of Maryland Extension, Carroll County Office...worked with several key growers in Maryland to host an emergency meeting in September [2010], gathering leaders from the USDA, state departments of agriculture, extension offices, research personnel and industry representatives to see the damage up close and personal. A staff member from Congressman Roscoe Bartlett's office was there, and Bartlett soon got involved.
"’It was really that meeting that got the ball rolling,’ Leskey said.
“After seeing damage at a Frederick County orchard, Bartlett organized a briefing about the brown marmorated stink bug for members of Congress and congressional staff by representatives of the USDA-ARS, USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. [APHIS]
“Later that month, Bartlett organized a joint meeting with officials from APHIS and the EPA to discuss coordinated actions and procedures to accomplish them, after which APHIS agreed to fast track reclassification of the stink bug from a "non-regulated pest" to a regulated pest, and giving it a priority status.”
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