Goals and Funding

This website represents a project that involves more than 50 researchers at 18 institutions across the United States working to develop a sustainable, long-term management program for the brown marmorated stink bug (BMSB) for specialty crop growers. Funding for this work comes from the USDA’s Specialty Crop Research Initiative (SCRI). The project, led by Jim Walgenbach of North Carolina State University, was launched in 2016, and builds upon a previous SCRI grant that ran from 2011 to 2016. Both projects are an outgrowth of efforts by the BMSB IPM Working Group.

The value of susceptible crops where BMSB has been established or identified is about $23 billion. As research findings from this new project are made public, our team will post to this website practical information for growers as quickly as possible.

  • Proposal summary (PDF) for the project “Management of Brown Marmorated Stink Bug in US Specialty Crops.”
  • Logic model (PDF) showing the project structure and potential outcomes.
  • The project team will report on its progress in a series of annual reports.

Objectives

Objective 1: Landscape ecology – Predicting where and under what conditions BMSB could become established

Objective 2: Biological control – Widespread biological control of BMSB, release of parasitoid wasp Trissolcus japonicus, understanding release factors and rearing techniques

Objective 3: Decision tools and management tactics – Evaluate landscape risk factors and produce decision tools, develop best management practices (BMPs)

Objective 4: Economics – Assess potential economic harm and evaluate value saved by management tools and tactics

Objective 5: Outreach – Deliver science-based information. Survey stakeholder needs and deliver crop-specific information. Inspire the next generation of pest experts.