Haddon, Heather. 2012. "Out of Odor: Offensive-Smelling Bugs Put U.S. Farmers on the Defensive." The Wall Street Journal. January 9.
The Wall Street Journal often runs amusing or unusual stories at the bottom of the front page. This story is unusual in the olfactory sense. It describes an invasive species to the US, the stink bug.
The articles describes how these bugs have been eating crops out East, devouring different crops and causing ... a big stink. The Halyomorpha halys came to the states via cargo ships, as did the Emerald Ash Borer. But this bug has been here for about 15 years.
Haddon cites some facts. The damage to 2010's apple crops cost $37 million. The potential risk to all crops is $21 billion (however, this isn't stated as annually or just for 2012). The USDA marked $5.7 million to researchers developing the bug's pheromones. But other entrepreneurs are in on the action, making and marketing their own traps, which people eagerly want, because the bugs sneak into houses during the winter.
The article provided a quick summary of the problem and why it is important to agriculture businesses. It provides a humorous take, mentioning the farmer who trained his dog to eat them. She says that "thousands" of the bug scurry across his floor—an exaggeration?
Haddon informs the reader of the solutions being worked on, the pheromones and the introduction of native prey in the Eastern states. The USDA is working on similar solutions for the Emerald Ash Borer as well.
This article might be a little off topic, but it interested me as research. The writing was a bit more entertaining, but it still illustrates the problem, lists potential solutions, and ends with a question of what will happen next. This outline could be followed for a similar article on EAB. But also, this shows a second case where the USDA is favoring natural biological solutions over chemical solutions. I'm sure this is a common type of solution in the 21st Century, a marked difference from Rachel Carson's 1960s.
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