Agricultural pests

Despite the use of pesticides costing more than $8 billion, 20-40% of potential food production is still lost every year to insect pests. These losses occur while the crop is growing in the field, when it is in storage and in the home. Caterpillars feed directly on leaves and fruits while sucking pests like aphids also spread diseases. The growing world population is increasing demand for food which must be produced sustainably and safely.

Many growers around the world are adopting Integrated Pest Management (IPM) to produce food in a sustainable manner. IPM combines biological, cultural, physical and chemical tools to manage pest damage by the most economical means, and with minimal risk to health and the environment. The Sterile Insect Technique (SIT) and Oxitec’s similar approach are ideal tools for use in IPM because of their species-specificity and low environmental impact. Insect predators are left in the field to provide natural pest control and use of insecticides is reduced or eliminated.

SIT is used around the world on a number of agricultural pests. These include tephritid fruit flies and the cotton pest pink bollworm. SIT has successfully suppressed the codling moth in Canadian apple orchards and the onion fly in the Netherlands, and is being evaluated for use against false codling moth in South Africa and light brown apple moth in the USA. As well as protecting fruit and vegetables, SIT has been used to rid American livestock from the flesh-eating maggot, the new world screwworm. Oxitec’s new technology makes SIT more affordable, even safer, and applicable to a wider range of crops and pests.