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Company ProfileOur dispensing products provide low cost and effective means for applying good “bugs” to control agricultural pests. These dispensers are designed to apply the beneficials with the lowest possible mortality while insuring that the “bugs” are placed in the crop foliage where they can immediately find their prey. We have both indoor and outdoor-use products designed to work in almost any crop environment. Some of the AgAttack dispensers are carried by hand while other dispensers mount on a tractor or ATV. All of the dispensers release a predetermined amount of beneficial insect or mite where it will have the greatest benefit. Our dispensers are used by traditional as well as organic growers that are implementing some form of integrated pest management (IPM). Traditional growers typically use pesticides early in the crop cycle and beneficial mites and insects later in the growing season. Organic growers oftentimes release a mix of beneficial organisms to implement biological control and sustainable agriculture. Beneficial insects and mites that have been dispensed successfully include predatory mites, lacewing eggs, lacewing larvae, and various parasitic wasps (e.g. Trichogramma and Eretmocerus, either as pupa or in parasitized eggs). We believe that any mite-sized organism in the egg, larvae or pupa stage can probably be safely dispensed with these products. AgAttack began in 1994, although research into "bug" dispensing by its founders started in 1993. The first product was a commercialized version of the successful predatory mite dispenser developed for strawberries by Dr. Ken Giles and his team from the University of California at Davis. The initial product focus of AgAttack was on row crop dispensers that mounted on a tractor toolbar. The first two crops tested were strawberries and cotton. Growers and researchers extensively tested the machines to be sure that predatory mites could be dispensed without measurable mortality. The row crop dispensers were next successfully tested in melons to release a parasitic wasp pupa. 1999 was a year of new product development for AgAttack. Based on customer and grower feedback, a series of products were developed for greenhouse use, as well as devices for outdoor trees and vines. AgAttack has dispensing equipment for almost all beneficial insects/mites and crop environments. While the founders of AgAttack did not work in agriculture prior to 1993, they came from farming families. The background of company president, Warren Sargent, is in engineering and the computer industry. This background is very helpful for the products that employ computer technology. He also teaches part time at a local community college. www.cos.edu/sargent AgAttack works closely with its customers, other growers and university researchers. We have found that nearly all of our product and service ideas and enhancements come from these interested parties. AgAttack has developed relationships with researchers in order to keep abreast of new developments in agriculture. The relationships with people from the University of California (Davis and Riverside, especially), are important because these universities have been pioneers in many areas of agricultural innovation. We listen closely to what you say. You will find that we care about you and your organization. Check us out and you will find that we do our best to help. An Aside: Considerations For Tradition Growers Thinking of Trying Good “Bugs”All crops harbor both good and bad “bugs”. Pesticides generally kill a higher percentage of the good bugs than the bad. The bad bugs that survive a pesticide become resistant to that material. Additional applications of that material are less and less effective as new generations of the bad bugs become increasingly resistant to the pesticide. One application of beneficials can cost about the same as a pesticide. Research indicates that a properly timed and sized application of beneficials can work as well as, if not better than a pesticide. In addition, when you apply beneficials, you also gain the advantage of not killing any of your good bugs that are already at work. There is a growing body of research of the mechanics for successfully using beneficial organisms in agricultural crops. For example, the University of California at Davis has an Internet site (http://www.ipm.ucdavis.edu/) dedicated to helping you determine the type of beneficial to use, timing, release rates, etc. - by crop. A number of other agricultural research universities also provide information for growers via the Internet. You know that beneficials work, because you already have them in your fields. Are beneficials guaranteed to work perfectly? Not to our knowledge, but consider the downside. You know that putting beneficials on your crops can’t hurt, and at best will help. Suppose that putting beneficials on your field works for part of the season. That’s part of the reason that you won’t be on the “pesticide treadmill” (one application leads to another and another and so on). Your pesticide bill should be lower after a season of using beneficials, if you follow the advice of the experts. There are some growers using beneficials that have found that they do not need to use pesticides in some years. Wouldn’t that be a nice increase to your bottom line? However, we should interject a cautionary word as well. Researchers have not yet developed workable strategies for every crop in every growing area. Sometimes beneficials seem to work better than at others. Each year provides a unique mix of pests and beneficials. If you are considering using beneficials, please get expert advice on how to use beneficials. For example, the UC-Davis web site is a good starting point. Cooperative Extension staff can also provide information and contacts that might be able to assist. Our web site contains some information on site-specific biological control, with the main feature being a link to a reputable insectary, who can also help guide you.
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