Features Fruit Production
Report on stink bug meeting in PA

June 29, 2011 – They
gathered seven miles north of the Gettysburg battlefield memorialized in
President Lincoln’s famous speech. The first one to speak appeared exhausted,
with an underlying tone of defeat in his voice as he pleaded with the group,
“We need help.” Two others were to follow, each as weary and desperate-sounding
as the first. Civil War soldiers come to swap battle stories? No, three growers
invited to talk to the brown marmorated stink bug (BMSB) working group
assembled in Biglerville, Pennsylvania, at the Pennsylvania State University
Fruit Research and Extension Center, June 20-21.

June 29, 2011 – They
gathered seven miles north of the Gettysburg battlefield memorialized in
President Lincoln’s famous speech. The first one to speak appeared exhausted,
with an underlying tone of defeat in his voice as he pleaded with the group,
“We need help.” Two others were to follow, each as weary and desperate-sounding
as the first. Civil War soldiers come to swap battle stories? No, three growers
invited to talk to the brown marmorated stink bug (BMSB) working group
assembled in Biglerville, Pennsylvania, at the Pennsylvania State University
Fruit Research and Extension Center, June 20-21.

Photo courtesy of Cornell University.

These three men recounted
their current efforts to protect apples and peaches from the new stink bug
pest. They had literally come directly from spraying to address the group, each
expressing uncertainty about their ability to continue their spray programs due
to cost, outbreaks of secondary pests and lack of sustainability.

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