USDA Awards Grants For Arizona Pest Research

By Casey Kuhn
Published: Friday, November 24, 2017 - 5:05am
(Photo courtesy of Michael Matheron - University of Arizona)
The fusarium fungus enters the plant through the roots, causing lettuce to wilt or die.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has awarded almost $600,000 in grants to an Arizona university for bug research.

The money is going to two different types of research at the University of Arizona’s entomology department.

$250,000, for one year, is going to support the Arizona Pest Management Center, formed to be an education and outreach program for the state’s farmers.

$330,000 is going to study, over three years, a new way to control weeds and disease in lettuce crops. Rather than manual labor, the research suggests a soil steaming device could lower the use of pesticides.

The steam would disinfest the ground lettuce grows in and could reduce yield lost to disease by 80 percent or more.

Science