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CapitalPress.com
Friday, May 14, 2021
Nature’s cleanup crew: Dung beetles
control farm pests and pathogens
By SIERRA DAWN McCLAIN
Capital Press
NOTI, Ore. — Beetles,
spiders and ladybugs scut-
tled across a mound of soil.
“When I’m out check-
ing soils or planting, I’ll
see dung beetles scurry-
ing around,” said Chris
Overbaugh, co-owner and
co-manager of Winter
Green Farm in Noti, pro-
ducing vegetables, berries,
sheep and grass-fed beef on
171 acres.
Overbaugh stepped onto
the mound, which ran along
the fence line. This was a
beetle bank, about 18 inches
wide and several inches tall
on either side of the fence,
providing year-round habi-
tat for beneficial insects.
Researchers say Over-
baugh and his wife, Shan-
non Shipp-Overbaugh, do
“incredible” work promot-
ing beneficials, including
the humble dung beetle.
Scientists say dung
beetles are effective at
suppressing human and
livestock pathogens, pro-
moting food safety, reduc-
ing fly populations and
improving soil health. But
the beetles, experts say, are
underappreciated.
“I think there’s just sort
of a dung beetle blindness,”
said Bill Snyder, an ento-
mologist and professor at
the University of Georgia.
“People are just unaware.”
Several years ago, when
Snyder was working for
Washington State Univer-
sity, then-doctoral student
Matt Jones, now a WSU
researcher,
approached
Snyder with an idea: to
study dung beetles.
In 2014, the two soon
secured a $500,000 USDA
grant for a three-year
project.
Jones
and
Snyder
worked in 70 fields across
California, Oregon and
Washington, representing
conventional, organic pro-
NRCS
NRCS Idaho Water Supply Specialist Erin Whorton.
Sierra Dawn McClain/Capital Press
Shannon Shipp-Overbaugh, left, with husband Chris
Overbaugh.
Bill Snyder
Matt Jones
duce and integrated live-
stock-and-produce farms.
One site was Win-
ter Green Farm. Over-
baugh, the farmer, said
while he was already aware
of dung beetles, working
with Jones “heightened our
awareness.”
Josh Cohen, owner of
Barking Moon Farm in
Applegate, Ore., also par-
ticipated and said it was
amazing to watch Jones
find “massive numbers of
beetles” in undisturbed soil.
In field studies, Jones
drove a van across the West.
Inside was a cooler of pig
feces. He’d visit farms, trap
native beetles, leave dol-
lops of manure in fields,
then come back to study
how much dung had been
removed.
“It was kind of a crazy
study,” said Snyder, then
Jones’ faculty supervisor.
The second portion of
the study looked at how
effective dung beetles are at
reducing E. coli.
Sierra Dawn McClain/Capital Press
Chris Overbaugh holds
a scoop of soil dug from
a section of undisturbed
beetle habitat.
In a laboratory, Jones fed
pig poop laced with E. coli
to dung beetles, and found
some dung beetle species
could kill 90% or more of E.
coli in a few days.
The findings have sig-
nificant food safety impli-
cations. Droppings left by
wildlife and domesticated
animals often carry E. coli,
which can contaminate pro-
duce. Jones and Snyder
showed dung beetles could
help by burying and break-
ing down feces.
A few years after their
There are thousands of
dung beetle species in the
world, and researchers say
the many species native to
the West are more effec-
tive at their work in that
region than introduced,
non-native species.
breakthrough study, how-
ever,
the
researchers
say dung beetles are still
underutilized.
Some countries are
ahead of the U.S. In Aus-
tralia and New Zealand, for
example, large-scale nurs-
eries propagate dung bee-
tles and sell them to farm-
ers. This practice is still rare
in the U.S.
But researchers say
American farmers can
encourage native dung bee-
tles to populate by creating
the right habitat.
“The most beneficial
thing growers can do is to
conserve and encourage
the dung beetle populations
that are local to their area,”
said Jones.
This can be done by cre-
ating beetle banks, planting
hedgerows, reducing use
of broad-spectrum insecti-
cides, leaving small areas
untilled, growing diverse
crops in rotation and
allowing livestock to drop
manure on pasture.
“Dung
beetles
are
nature’s cleanup crew, and
they can do a lot of good if
you let them,” said Snyder.
Idaho water forecast:
Streamflow reductions
in many locations
By BRAD CARLSON
Capital Press
Idaho water-supply spe-
cialists say irrigators in
many locations will have
less water to work with as
the season continues.
“Based on dry soil condi-
tions and lack of spring pre-
cipitation, we expect contin-
ued water supply shortages
in the Big Wood, Little
Wood, Big Lost and Little
Lost basins,” Erin Whorton,
a hydrologist with the USDA
Natural Resources Conser-
vation Service Snow Sur-
vey in Idaho, said in a news
release. “Diminished agri-
cultural irrigation water sup-
ply is also predicted for the
Snake River above Heise,
and Oakley, Salmon Falls
and Owyhee basins. Dry
conditions across Idaho will
continue to impact ranch-
ers who utilize non-irrigated
pastures.”
NRCS said snowpack is
melting earlier and faster
than normal despite a few
April storms bringing mini-
mal gains to the highest-el-
evation sites. Peak snow-
pack occurred up to 26 days
earlier than normal at some
sites.
“Based on what we are
seeing, we are anticipating
a potentially very difficult
year,” Pat Purdy of Picabo
Livestock Co., in the Big
Wood River Basin, told Cap-
ital Press.
He said the farm and
ranch this year installed
additional soil-moisture sen-
sors. It will work with neigh-
bors to cooperate on water
usage, and keep some feeder
hay it would have sold in a
normal water year.
Purdy said he fallowed
just over 200 acres, mostly
barley.
University of Idaho cereal
agronomist and pathol-
ogy specialist Juliet Mar-
shall, based in Idaho Falls,
said that barley planting was
nearly completed in the state
and focused on higher-ele-
vation areas.
In non-irrigated farming
areas, “we’ve got some soil,
especially topsoils that have
recently been worked, with a
little dryness on the surface
depending on location,” she
said. Despite some recent
rains, “we are concerned
about soil moisture levels
being low.”
Marshall said top-layer
moisture appears suffi-
cient for barley germina-
tion. But without additional
soil moisture, the soil can
dry faster than the roots can
grow downward. Drought
early in the crop season can
reduce the number of tillers
or stems per plant.
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