AAFC scientists from across the country have been working hard to provide farmers with a natural method to control wireworm infestations and reduce crop losses.

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Full Video Transcript:

Narrator: Wireworms have become a major pest for Canadian farmers. They are the larvae of the click beetle. At the larvae stage, they live in the soil and eat the roots of plants. Wireworms affect a wide variety of crops, such as root vegetables and grains. However, potatoes are the crop most affected. In Prince Edward Island alone, the Potato Board estimates it costs farmers six million dollars a year in pest management measures and crop losses. Traditionally, organochlorine and organophosphate insecticides have been used to control wireworms. In Canada, many of these broad-spectrum products are no longer available or are being phased out. With limited insecticide control available, the wireworm population is growing and spreading. Thanks to some pioneering research by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada’s scientist, Dr. Christine Noronha, there is positive news. She is working with Prince Edward Island potato farmers, using brown mustard as a rotational crop to fight the pest.
Christine Noronha: Brown mustard has very high levels of glucosinolate in its tissues and also in its roots. It has a specific glucosinolate in its root which is actually toxic to insects when they chew on it.
Narrator: With mustard, the infestations of wireworm have been reduced to manageable levels, but not eradicated. It may be that other rotational crops need to be added to the mix. Noronha is now exploring buckwheat grown in a crop rotation with mustard and potatoes as a control for the wireworms. She is seeing some good results. Participating farms have seen further and significant reductions of wireworm populations.
Christine Noronha: It is a green solution. It reduces the use of insecticides and you are doing it in a sustainable way.
Narrator: Chemists are checking physical properties of buckwheat. Hydrologists will check on how growing buckwheat benefits the water table. Nutrient management experts will examine buckwheat’s ability to soak up excess nutrients in the soil. And an engineer will study soil properties.
Christine Noronha: We are looking at all aspects of buckwheat. We are looking at the production, production for seed, how it controls wireworm, the different species of wireworms. We are looking at it as a whole picture of buckwheat in relation to wireworm control.




Narrator: The research by Noronha is part of a $1.8 million dollar project involving 17 scientists at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada research centres across the country.
The research is a great example of how agricultural science has evolved in recent decades to become much more multidisciplinary and protective of the environment. Agricultural scientists don’t work in silos -- they just want to help farmers produce a good crop with minimum impact to the environment.