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By TOMMY WILLIAMS
Extension Agent
Many farmers are expected to take up trapping in the years to come, but they won’t be trapping animals.
They will lure damaging insects with a technique called trap cropping. Former Virginia Tech Extension entomologist Bob McPherson is continuing his crop trapping studies at the University of Georgia.
“We’re manipulating the insect to come to where we want him and to control him before he moves on and does a lot damage over a lot of acres,” Mr. McPherson said.
The idea is to intentionally plant a small part of a crop earlier than usual to lure in the insects that survived the winter. When the pests arrive, the area is sprayed to kill them before they reproduce and move on to the rest of the crop, he explained.
“Both the farmer and the environment are winners with the new system,” Mr. McPherson added.
Using trap cropping in soybeans may mean farmers will spray one or two acres instead of hundreds. At $6 to $10 per acre for pesticides, the savings can make the difference between a profit or loss.
Less pesticide use also benefits
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| Tomato crop
j was bumper
( The production of fresh market | tomatoes and corn in Virginia in* creased last year by 77 percent com* pared to their 1987 levels. According 1 to the Virginia Agricultural Statis* tics Service, the increase was mostly
(due to a bumper crop of tomatoes.
The fresh tomato crop in the j Commonwealth was up 84 percent over 1987, for a total of 1,260 cwt. 1 (hundredweight), according to l VASS. Acreage increases and excel; lent yields contributed to this draI matic rise in production, the service
j said.
Sweet com production increased t 40 percent above 1987, despite an t early summer drought which threatI ened to wipe out the crop in some 1 areas of the state. The total harvest : was 168 cwt. Good yields also ac! counted for the increase, VASS statI isticians said. ! The value of both fresh market i [ crops was a combined total of $43.5 million, more than double the figure t in 1987. • The Virginia Agricultural Statis’ tics Service, a division of the Vir! ginia Department of Agriculture and I Consumer Services, compiles fig; ures from the state’s agricultural ‘ production and distributes the re1 suits to agricultural producers, businesses and other interested persons, t
)
87.7%