The goal is to reduce the hazelnut industry’s use of pesticides.
The goal is to reduce the hazelnut industry’s use of pesticides.
Each July, just-hatched moth larvae burrow into filbert shells, eat the meat and then poop, easily rendering an entire crop inedible. So farmers spray pesticides.
Now, a three-year experiment adding mating disruption to McKenzie River filbert acreage has found that farmers who use the pheromone system to confuse the moths can leave their industrial-size pesticide sprayers in the barn one-half to three-quarters of the time.
Read more at the Register-Guard.
