Two years ago, a new pest menace to California cotton - the brown stink bug - infested fields in the state's Palo Verde Valley in Riverside County. The pest has now caused damaged in cotton for three consecutive growing seasons.

Riverside and northern Imperial counties are the only cotton-growing areas known to have the bug. 

Cotton losses have been significant. This August, some growers turned off the irrigation water to their cotton crops and planned to harvest what fiber they could.    

Review these photos to see the pest culprit, its damage, and learn about the actions by cotton leaders to bring solutions to this problem.

Click on the link below to read the Western Farm Press article on the BSB - California cotton issue.

http://westernfarmpress.com/cotton/red-tape-delays-brown-stink-bug-control-cal-cotton

Thanks.

Cary Blake, Editor, Western Farm Press