AGRICULTURE
A8 • HERMISTONHERALD.COM
WEDNESDAY, MAY 13, 2020
Research and trapping help keep pests out of crops
By JADE MCDOWELL
NEWS EDITOR
Pests can pose a seri-
ous threat to crops, but the
Hermiston
Agricultural
Research and Extension
Center is on the case.
Silvia Rondon, the exten-
sion center’s entomologist,
said staff are currently set-
ting up for the yearly trap-
ping program that serves as
an alert system for grow-
ers in Oregon and Southeast
Washington.
Insect traps are dispersed
to farmers’ fields around
Umatilla and Morrow coun-
ties, and then brought back
to the lab at HAREC each
week, so that pest counts can
be emailed out to more than
500 growers and added to an
online map.
“We’ve got 50 years
worth of data, and we’re
able to create models to
predict when pests will be
showing up,” Rondon said.
The models, combined
with alerts to where pests are
showing up at the moment,
helps farmers know when
they need to start applying
chemical or biological con-
trols to protect their crops,
saving area growers millions
of dollars each year.
Rondon runs HAREC’s
trapping program, but also
oversees the trapping system
for Oregon State University
statewide. She said when
she was first asked to run it
in 2006 she didn’t want to,
but now she believes it’s one
of the most valuable things
she has done for OSU.
“I think it provides an
excellent program for the
growers,” she said.
Bugs they look out for
include the Colorado potato
beetle, leafhoppers, aphids,
Lygus bugs and potato
tuberworms, to name a few.
In addition to the trapping
program, HAREC also runs
a variety of research proj-
ects on how to sustainably
and effectively control pests
found in the area.
They work in outdoor
crop circles, greenhouses
Photo contributed by Silvia Rondon
Three different variety of traps set up in a field collect samples of different kinds of pests.
Photo contributed by Silvia Rondon
Silvia Rondon, an entomologist for the Hermiston Agricultural
Research and Extension Center, takes a selfie with other
members of the entomology team, who are continuing their
work with social distancing measures in place.
MURDER HORNETS?
Rondon said she has gotten a lot of calls and emails about
the Asian giant hornet, dubbed a “murder hornet,” since it
started making headlines recently.
The hornet can be nearly 2 inches long, has sharp jaws,
a painful sting and the ability to decapitate a hive full of
honeybees. A nest was found in British Columbia, Canada,
and a few months ago a single dead giant Asian was found
just over the border in Washington.
Rondon said so far reported sightings in Oregon have all
turned out to be other similar-looking insects.
“It’s not present here as far as we know, and the pictures
we have been sent here are absolutely not that hornet,” she
said.
and labs at the station. Ron-
don said the entomology
staff are running experi-
ments on crops ranging from
corn to hemp, but their big-
gest focus is potatoes, since
in the Columbia Basin,
“potatoes are king.”
Sometimes, a new pest
migrates to the area, spark-
ing new research to respond
to the new threat.
“We have progressive
growers, who are well-in-
formed and always adapt to
new things that come their
way,” Rondon said.
Since HAREC staff don’t
Photo contributed by Silvia Rondon
A yellow sticky trap catches insects in a field as part of the trapping system set up to alert
growers to the presence of pests that can harm their crops.
have the resources to moni-
tor every field on their own,
farmers also set their own
traps, and Rondon trains
their staff. She said many
of the people who she trains
pick it up so well she tells
them they should become
entomologists, but she’s also
is the diversity of the staff,
who come many different
countries.
“We have been constantly
bringing people in from all
over the world, to bring that
expertise and to share our
expertise,” she said. “It’s
been a great experience.”
available to help identify
something if people are hav-
ing trouble figuring out what
it is.
“I provide them my cell-
phone number and they send
me pictures,” she said.
One thing Rondon enjoys
about working at HAREC
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