

Stink bugs

Pungent pests

Little bugs cause big problems

See article

Readers' comments



Fascinating story. My house actually had the same infestation about a summer ago, they are really hard to get rid of! The biggest shame out of this whole ordeal is the increased usage of pesticides by farmers. Hopefully the edibility of the food we eat is untouched by this problem and its solution.


This article was actually very interesting. I didn't know that stink bugs were that big of a pest when it came to agriculture. This seems like a huge problem. With no way to permanently get rid of the bugs, they are definitely going to overtake crops and potentially even whole farms. This will result in the agriculture business losing millions of dollars worth or crops and it will also lead to an increase in price for products at grocery stores, markets, etc. This affects both the producers and the consumers. The U.S. does need to think long and hard about allowing this wasp to be used to fight off stink bugs. Bringing unknown bugs from foreign countries is always a risk and lot of research needs to be put into this one. The U.S. needs to make sure that this new wasp won't also damage crops and cause disease within the states. If the bug is indeed harmless then this could be a good solution to the stink bug problem.


The loss of crops due to stink bugs is startlingly. Being in agriculture is a tough field, and stink bugs only add to a long list of possible complications with farming. It is unfortunate that farmers now have to revert to using strong pesticides when consumers demand for as little of that as possible.
With no predator for the bugs now, they will continue to grow in size and could devastate for the country’s crops. How can the nation deal with this? Introducing the Asian parasitic wasp, another bug from outside the country, may help with the stink bugs, but could they cause any future problems of their own for the country?


I saw the same info, which seems to be the most anybody knows about it. Would you prefer that the Economist make something up? I think that "accidentally brought to America in the late 1990s" actually pretty well sums up the knowledge on the subject. Nobody has be individually implicated, the bug obviously came from Asia, was first seen in late 1990s, and is now here.
This is an article, not a wikipedia entry, I don't really expect them to exhaustively explain every tangental story, just provide adequate background information such as it exists, which I think they did.

AB ve

I did as you said. There was no magic. The only credible link that comes up is http://www.invasivespeciesinfo.gov/animals/stinkbug.shtml
and all it says is 'possibly arrived in shipping crates from Asia'.

As a reader of TE, I expect more information from the articles, at least more than what can be got from google results.

Further info can be how has the system become more smart in last 10 yr to avoid a repeat, how other countries deal with it, total estimated loses etc.


Considering you're already on the internet, how hard is it to look up? Answer: not very, try a site which has been gaining popularity over the last decade called "google". If you don't already have a toolbar, you can visit "www.google.com", type in "stink bug introduction", and watch the magic happen.


"accidentally brought to America in the late 1990s"

That's a rather anodyne statement...any further information?
Like how and by whom?

Danny Stockton

I have a tomato garden and I know how these stink bugs can ruin a crop. I can empathize with Kim Clarke. This summer stink bugs infested my tomato garden and only a few survived. I want to grow the tomatoes organically, however many of the sites that explain how to get rid of stink bugs say pesticides is a very, if not the most, effective way to get rid of these critters. I can understand how farmers must be aggravated with these bugs. I wonder how this will impact the farming industry and economy.


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