International Pest Control – March/April 2025 – Vol 67, Nr.2

IPCadmin | April 21, 2025

Cover image: The emerald ash borer (Agrilus planipennis) is a native beetle of East Asia that has spread to North America, Russia, and Eastern Europe where it is responsible for the deaths of millions of ash trees.
Picture by International Pheromone Systems

Firstly, an apology for the late arrival of this issue – I’m afraid being Editor is not a full-time role and year end – March – is always a very busy period for the day job! I hope none of you were holding your breath for this issue.

It seems that every issue is permeated by the impacts of climate change, and we kick off with the news that the Bayer and Pula Foundations have taken on the task of insuring 10 million smallholder farmers by 2030 and unlocking 127 million US dollars in cover. CABI’s Chief Scientist wins recognition for his contribution to the adoption of IPM while IFAS continues to support rural women and their families in India. We conclude the news section with a new zombie fungus which has been named after Sir David Attenborough – I am sure this is intended as a compliment.

The pest of the issue is the house mouse – whose ability to reproduce is matched only by their ability to squeeze through the smallest of gaps and cause millions of dollars’ worth of damage every year.

We finish our in-depth reporting of the 2024 BCPC Congress and we also include cover of the 61st BCPC Weeds Review which took place slightly earlier in 2024. Coming up we have the 11th ICUP in Sweden and the AAB’s Legumes in Science and Practice.

Company news from Biobest, Bayer, Ecospray, Syngenta, BASF, Acadian, Andermatt, Certis Belchim, and Ceres include the usual new joint ventures, new staff and product repackaging as well as some genuinely new products. The term AI also seems to crop up every now and then!

This issue’s special feature is the Pests of Crop and Amenity Trees, and we kick off with a review of control of that old favourite of apple growers – the codling moth – by Izabel Filis from i2L Research. The next focus is the beautiful but deadly emerald ash borer, an invader from East Asia, which has the potential to wipe out the ash in the UK as it has done in Russia, Eastern Europe, the USA and Canada. Dr Terry Mabbett looks at plane wilt and its impact on our cities where plane is a major feature and in particular in London where it is the principal tree of parks and squares and provides shade and cooling – reducing the impact of climate change on our ever-warmer cities. We finish this section with a short practical article on pest control in amenity trees from Laura Mahecha of the Kline Group.

In Agriculture prioritising invasive non-native species, delivering a more oil-rich sorghum, the impact of Palmer amaranth in rice, and the results of the “Pragati” sustainable castor bean program in 2024 are all featured, as is an alternative to those banned neonicotinoids that could come to the rescue of sugar beet farmers.

Technology is to the fore in the Horticulture section with the expansion of BASF’s digital farming toolkit into grapes but with a view to including tomatoes and potatoes from 2026 – which is only next year! We cover the winners of the WUR Autonomous Greenhouse Challenge, a new strain of the green peach aphid which is resistant to a wider range of chemicals and how feeding ants sugar may make them prey on aphids rather than protecting them.

Scientists at the University of Florida have genetically edited a citrus tree so it can kill off the first instar nymphs of the psyllids responsible for spreading Huanglongbing: it uses the Bt gene but one can’t help wondering how long it will be before resistance sets in. We also look at a potential new control agent for the papaya mealybug, strategies for controlling Huanglongbing in Europe and the use of citizen science to assess the establishment and spread of an introduced weed biological control agent.

Hopefully the next issue will be hot on the heels of this one and we will get back onto our regular cycle of production. Articles on any relevant topic are always welcome.

Chris Endacott, Editor International Pest Control magazine
editor@international-pest-control.com