Click image for caption and other photo Canola Oil and Fungal
Mixture May Help Stop a Hopper Scourge By Amy Spillman November
13, 2002 During the summer of 2002, grasshopper infestations in
the western United States were some of the worst reported in
more than 60 years. The insects' numbers swelled so high that
the governor of Utah declared a state of agricultural emergency.
Currently, chemicals such as carbaryl, diflubenzuron and
malathion are the only effective and economical insecticides on
the market that land managers can use to battle grasshopper
infestations. Now, however, scientists with the Agricultural
Research Service and University of Wyoming-Laramie are studying
what could become a less costly and more environmentally
friendly alternative--a mixture of a naturally occurring fungus
and canola oil. Stefan Jaronski, a research entomologist at ARS'
Northern Plains Agricultural Research Laboratory in Sidney,
Mont., is collaborating with insect ecologist Jeff Lockwood and
others at the university in a