East Lansing, Michingan
March 23, 2009
 The
small amount of money put toward fighting the tiny, yet
destructive soybean aphid will pay big dividends in the coming
years, said a Michigan State
University economist, thanks to a research and outreach
system developed during the last 50 years.
State and federal governments have spent $17 million on soybean
aphid research and education since 2003, MSU agricultural, food
and resource economics professor Scott Swinton said. The net
economic benefit of that integrated pest management work, or
IPM, should reach $1.3 billion during the next 15 years, he
said. That’s an annual rate of return of 180 percent.
“This is an example of what a good payoff you can get as a
result of long-term research,” Swinton said. “There’s been a
half century of research into integrated pest management. In the
process a lot of techniques were developed and lots of
understanding was gained about the relationships between crop
and pest life cycles, infestations and the weather to decide
when it’s necessary to control them without wasting money and
creating health risks.”
Integrated pest management “takes a comprehensive approach to
pest management that balances economics with environmental and
human safety, as well as with what makes sense on the ground in
the local community,” said Michael Brewer, MSU’s IPM Program
coordinator.
Controls, which might include chemical and biological methods,
are only put into action once a carefully determined
cost-effectiveness threshold is crossed. Fewer than 250 aphids
per plant, for example, probably won’t impact soybean yield and
early use of insecticides could actually kill beneficial insects
such as parasitic wasps.
“For me it’s almost like having a good national defense system
in case you’re attacked in a time of war,” Swinton said. “Having
a good IPM research and outreach system enables you to respond
rapidly to invasive species like the soybean aphid.”
Soybeans are the second largest cash crop in the United States,
exceeding 3 billion bushels in 2005 with sales of $17 billion.
Two-thirds of the crop goes to poultry, pig and cattle feed, and
about a third is exported, according to government figures.
Soybean fields could be left insecticide-free in the Midwest
until just five or 10 years ago, when aphids began to appear in
north-central states. By 2005, 22 percent of soybean acreage
nationally was being treated for the sap-sucking pests, which
stunt plant growth and transmit viruses. Michigan’s acreage
treatment rate rose to 42 percent by then, and Minnesota’s to 56
percent.
Swinton and doctoral student Feng Song measured the cost of
state and federal soybean aphid research and outreach programs
since they began in 2003, and calculated the net benefits to
growers and consumers during the next 15 years. They present
their research results at the 6th International IPM Symposium in
Portland, Ore., March 24.
Michigan State’s IPM research and extension work is supported
by the Michigan Agricultural Experiment Station, MSU Extension,
Project GREEEN and the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Michigan State University has been advancing knowledge and
transforming lives through innovative teaching, research and
outreach for more than 150 years. MSU is known internationally
as a major public university with global reach and extraordinary
impact. Its 17 degree-granting colleges attract scholars
worldwide who are interested in combining education with
practical problem solving. |
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