'Leave it to nature': how enticing insects to kill off pests helped cut reliance on pesticides

While working to stop bollworms destroying cotton crops, Dr Robert Mensah wondered whether other insects could provide a solutionWhile trying to come up with a pesticide solution to kill off bollworms, Dr Robert Mensah had his eureka moment.It was the 90s, and in Australia bollworms were devastating cotton farms, with the larvae of these moths chomping up the crops faster than farmers could eradicate them. The farmers were trapped in an arms race with the bollworms, applying more and more pesticide to combat an increasingly resistant species of pest - killing many beneficial insects in the process. Continue reading...