What Is Agricultural Pest Control?
Agricultural pest control is the management, prevention and extermination of insects and other pests that are detrimental to the health of ecological and agricultural environments. Insects and other pests can not only physically damage plants, but also spread disease.
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Farming Industry
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Agricultural pest control is a vital part of the farming industry. Insects and other pests can damage crops and spread disease among different plants. Farmers often ship goods to other parts of the country making it incredibly important to limit and temper the spread of pests.
Wine industry
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Certain insects and pests can spread disease that affects a specific kind of plant. In the state of California, the wine industry has invested heavily in agricultural pest control in an effort to stop the spread of the Glassy Wing Sharp Shooter moth (GWSS). This particular species of moth is responsible for spreading Pierce's disease, a disease that can prove fatal to grapes.
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Pesticides
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To limit the spread of pests and disease, agricultural products and plants are often sprayed with pesticides before transport.
Eco-friendly pesticides
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Due to the fact that pesticides can be highly toxic, there have been efforts in the agricultural pest control community to create pesticides that are not only safe for humans, but also the earth in general.
Checkpoints
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Plants that are shipped from one area of the country to another are often physically inspected at checkpoints. Workers at these checkpoints inspect entire plant orders for both eggs and pests.
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References
Resources
- Photo Credit agriculture image by Gonçalo Carreira from Fotolia.com
