International Pest Control – November/December 2020 – Vol 62, Nr.6
Cover Image:
Drosophila suzukii on cherry.
Picture by Tim Haye
The year of virtual conferences and seemingly endless Teams meetings ends with the prospect of new vaccines liberating us from the tyranny of the virus by summer 2021. Too late to save many of the conferences planned for 2021 which have already taken the prudent decision to defer to 2022. It will be another year before we return to a more normal cycle of meetings but I for one hope we can still access conferences remotely and cut out all that expensive – and carbon intensive – travel.
In the news section we report BASF winning an award for its digital farming system – one of the rapidly growing sectors of the pest control industry and one that has applications worldwide. In the USA the EPA has been very busy approving products for use – nothing to do with the election results? Meanwhile CABI has added BioProtection Global, a worldwide federation of biocontrol and biopesticides industry associations, to its BioProtection Portal to get twice the BioProtection.
Meanwhile Ben and Jerry together with the Climate Coalition have been thinking about future 15-minute cities. Their vision does not have a date which is just as well as they will not be held to it. Back in 2003 the Hydrogen sector, in return for a big hand out, promised us five million hydrogen fuel cell cars on the roads of Europe by 2020… only 4.998 million out!
In company news NPMA has handed out awards, conferences have been postponed – in some cases again – and others have switched to virtual mode. Bayer reports a challenging third quarter, but due to seasonal problems rather than the pandemic. Meanwhile SynTech merges with Acceres, Rosensa acquires Oro Agri, SynTech expands and Syngenta rebrands with a logo that reflects “the vibrancy, wonder and abundance of the four elements that enable agriculture” – so now you know!
In our special feature on pests of crop and amenity trees IPC Technical Consultant Terry Mabbett takes a look at a problem with pheromone lures which affected traps used in the UK to monitor oak processionary moth (OPM). We look at the pests of stored dates, control of the fruit fly, use of parasitic wasps against ash borer, impact of water quality on pesticide efficacy in Eucalyptus, control of mealybug in cocoa, using genetics to control Panama disease in bananas, state of the art technology in the form of a portable DNA test and finally how chemicals in the leaves can indicate an ash tree’s resistance to ash dieback.
Public health takes a look at bed bugs with the image of one test victim – the author – sleeping in a bed in order to study their foraging behaviour. The dedication! CABI is after the Asian hornet in Switzerland, tagging a captured hornet and following it back to the nest. Many more alien species are set to plague us with 2,500 new alien species predicted to arrive in Europe by 2050. Meanwhile in the USA the Asian hornet is also the target of the US ARS who used a lure to trap the hornets before tagging them and following them back to the nest – this now seems to be the standard method of control!
Dr Terry Mabbett reports on the bad year UK farmers have had with a combination of bad weather and pesticide withdrawals hitting crop yields. Fellow IPC Consultant Prof Graham Matthews takes a look at new ideas for locust control coming from China. In Spain, the hoverfly Eupeodes corallae has been put to work by Biobest to control aphids in protected pepper crops, along the way discovering that it also helps with pollination. Finally, psyllids have been used in the Netherlands in an attempt to control Japanese knotweed.
Chris Endacott, Editor International Pest Control magazine
Email Chris on editor@international-pest-control.com
Contents International Pest Control November/December 2020
Volume 62, Number 6.
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
- BASF Digital Farming wins Best Innovation award.
- CABI BioProtection Portal welcomes BioProtection Global.
- Deployment of ICTs for SME agribusinesses and farmers.
- Transforming the food system through innovation.
- …And Finally… Sweet, low carbon vision for 2100.
ASSOCIATION & SOCIETY NEWS
- NPMA Presents Industry Awards at PestWorld 2020.
- More virtual conferences.
- BPCA launches digital PestExtra as PestEx postponed until 2022.
COMPANY NEWS
- Bayer has challenging time.
- Global merger.
- Rovensa to acquire Oro Agri.
- SynTech expansion.
- Syngenta Group news
SPECIAL FEATURE – Pests of Crop & Amenity Trees.
- Faulty pheromone lures hamper UK OPM management – Dr Terry Mabbett.
- The management of pyralid moths in stored dates – Hamadttu A. F. El-Shafie.
- Natural enemy for Asian fruit fly is two species – Wayne Coles.
- Three species of parasitic wasp deployed – University of Rhode Island/ecoRI News.
- Very hungry caterpillars thwarted by tree diversity – Heidi Swanson.
- Impact of water quality on insectide efficacy – Srikumar Koda Kkadan*, A. Duran, R. Wijaya, N. G. H. Sinulingga, W. de S. Tavares, M. Tarigan, C. Y. Wong and M. Sharma.
- Sustainable control of mealybug in cocoa.
- Resistance genes identified to combat Panama disease – Wageningen University & Research.
- Portable DNA device detects tree pests in under 2 hours – University of British Columbia.
- Chemical clues in leaves can reveal ash tree resistance – University of Warwick.
PUBLIC HEALTH
- Smart spraying limits under and overdosing – Goizper Group.
- Remote monitoring for bed bugs – Dr Clare Sampson, Pete Jones, Dr Richard Naylor and Alexia Naylor.
- CABI tracks down and destroys Asian hornet nest – Wayne Coles.
- Alien species will increase by 36% worldwide by 2050 – Professor Tim Blackburn.
- Lure for Asian giant hornets – Agricultural Research Service, US Department of Agriculture.
AGRICULTURE
- UK arable crops hit by weather and pesticide withdrawals – Dr Terry Mabbett.
- New ideas from China on locust control – Prof Graham Matthews.
- Crop diversity and semi-natural habitats boost insect mix – British Ecological Society.
- Eupeodes-System – powerful new aphid control – Biobest Group.
- Closed Loop Knapsack Sprayer from Syngenta – Syngenta.
- New way to protect plants from fungal infection – Martin Luther University.
HORTICULTURE & AMENITY
- Psyllid release to combat invasive plant species – Leiden University.
CALENDAR
- Upcoming pest control events
Published in International Pest Control – November/December 2020 issue.
Category: Issue Editorial & Contents
