Local farmers had a delayed start to the planting season this year because of bad weather. Now there’s something else bugging them.
Farmers say their crops are being infested by stink bugs. The smelly critters are invasive and are known to feed on several crops such as cotton, wheat, sorghum, and canola. Farmers are forced to spray insecticide to get rid of the bugs or risk losing a portion of their crops.
“It is not cheap to go in there and take care of these insects. We are talking anywhere from ten dollars plus per acre so if a producer has 25 hundred acres of cotton, just for instance, you are looking at $25,000 per shot of insecticide over that crop,” said Bobby McCool with San Patricio County Texas A&M AgriLife Extension.
Farmers are in a race to get to their crops before the bugs do. Harvesting for cotton is between July and early August. They hope to finish in September.
