Japanese Beetles

Japanese Beetles

David Sparks Ph.D.
David Sparks Ph.D.
I talked with Entomologist Dr. Paul Castrovillo about the potential for Japanese beetles to be hugely destructive to agricultural production. "Right now, if you know anything about Japanese beetles, they had been in the eastern US since 1916, that is where they found their first one in New Jersey. East of the Mississippi River, there are billions and billions of them because the climate there brings more rain than weekends in the West. Those weather conditions are very good for them so they spread all over. Out in the West we have a lot more dry areas so it is not as conducive for them here. If they accidentally get transported to a place that has a lot of irrigation or an agricultural situation like a vineyard, they can survive and proliferate and become a huge pest in the West. All the places in the West, wherever they have found them have jumped into an eradication program to keep that from happening and so far all the programs, they've taken several years to work but all the places in the West that have done that have been successful in knocking them out."

Previous ReporteWind Solutions
Next ReportCrop Insurance Deadline