Industry members are making a coordinated effort to address navel orangeworm issues across crop types. President of American Pistachio Growers, Richard Matoian explained that cooperation between commodity groups will be necessary in mitigating damage from the pest. Over the past three years, pistachio and almond groups have been working on a pilot program using sterile navel orangeworm moths to address wild populations.
“We feel that the science is showing that you can’t just control the pest in one commodity without it impacting another. so, we need to have multiple commodities involved in this effort to really help reduce the incidents of damage,” said Matoian. “We just believe a program like this, as big and broad as it is, over multiple thousands of acres, is going to show a coordinated effort to reduce the pest is going to be beneficial.”
Listen to the radio report below.
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