
Read: more
details in Agricultural Research magazine. ARS Research Elevates Grain
Storage PracticesBy Linda McGraw April 20, 2000Spreading good news and good practices
for integrated pest management among grain elevator operators is key to saving
the wheat industry millions of dollars from losses caused by stored grain
insects. Agricultural Research Serviceresearchers in Manhattan, Kan. and state researchers have gathered scientific
data that grain elevator managers can use to thwart damage caused in stored
wheat by the lesser grain borer, rice weevil, red flour beetle, and rusty grain
beetle. These insects cost the U.S. wheat industry about $500 million annually.
Since the summer of 1998, Federal and state researchers have been monitoring
insect levels and current pest management practices at 13 elevators in Kansas
and 15 in Oklahoma. This is a collaborative study between major grain handling
companies, Kansas State University,
Oklahoma State University,
and ARS. The work focuses on day-to-day elevator management practices--how
these practices affect the cost and effectiveness of insect control and how
that impacts the economics of moving and storing grain. This is the largest
study of its kind, according to ARS entomologist David W. Hagstrum at the
Grain Marketing and Production Research
Center in Manhattan. Hagstrum and his team have identified three main ways to improve integrated
pest management: (1) cooling the grain earlier in the storage season,
particularly right after it enters the bin; (2) cleaning empty bins more
thoroughly; and (3) fumigating wheat only when insect infestations reach
unacceptable levels. Research data collected during this study substantiate
that these recommendations are cost-effective. The Kansas-Oklahoma areawide project is one of several ARS programs
developed in response to USDAs 1998
Integrated Pest
Management Initiative. As a result of the project, researchers will have
developed an integrated pest management program for wheat stored at elevators
by 2002. ARS is the chief research agency for the U.S.
Department of Agriculture. For a longer report, see the April issue of
Agricultural Researchmagazine. Scientific contact: David W. Hagstrum, ARS Grain Marketing and
Production Research Center, Manhattan, Kan., phone (785) 776-2718, fax (785)
776-2792, [email protected].
U.S. Department of Agriculture |