Proudly Canadian
Proudly Canadian
Dozens of different beneficial species, including beetles, may be in your fields chowing down root maggots and other pests
It’s easy to forget about the beneficial insects in your crops when you are focused on eradicating pests of all kinds. “When you calculate the economic loss from your pest insect, add about 20 per cent to it, and think about the beneficials that are in there,” said Jim Bratch, an entomologist with Alberta AgricultureThey’re slow workers, but spurge-eating beetles can have a big impact on infested pastures and hay land
Having found a beetle with a taste for leafy spurge, researchers are now trying to figure out how to get the insects to gobble up more of the noxious, invasive weed. Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada researchers from Brandon Research Centre are in the final year of a three-year study of beetles chowing down on leafy
