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The latest on the Key Bridge collapse, New York puts forth legislation to get clean energy projects on the grid and Wisconsin and other states join a federal summer food program to help feed kids across the country.

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Republicans float conspiracy theories on the collapse of Baltimore's Key Bridge, South Carolina's congressional elections will use a map ruled unconstitutional, and the Senate schedules an impeachment trial for Homeland Secretary Mayorkas.

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Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

“Beneficial Insect” Lessons for Idaho Farmers

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Thursday, January 16, 2014   

HAILEY, Idaho - Creepy-crawlies are mostly "good guys." Farmers and agriculture professionals are meeting in Hailey today to learn about beneficial insects and other critters, and how to make them part of the farm family.

Gwendolyn Ellen, coordinator of the Farmscaping for Beneficials Program, Oregon State University, is one of the experts who will explain how biodiversity in agriculture benefits production, as well as the environment.

"Be they native pollinators or predators or birds or bats, learn what they need and then kind of insert that into the production system," Ellen said.

Most farmers intuitively understand that a diverse ecology can help them, Ellen said, but are unsure how to set out the welcome mat for a wide array of insects, animals and plants.

Ellen likes to point out the "good news" about piles of brush and debris that usually litter farms: They are habitats, and they add to the plant and animal diversity.

"That chaotic part of their farm is often not as disastrous as it feels to them. It's that bio-diverse landscape that attracts beneficial organisms," she said.

The use of pesticides also will be discussed, since they are broad-based and destroy not just the target insect or plant but many others that could benefit the farm. Ellen pointed out that in a working bio-diverse landscape, routine pesticides are not needed as often, and when they are, they can be more effective.

The "Habitat and Conservation Practices for Beneficial Insects on Idaho Farms" program is sponsored by the Western Integrated Pest Management Center. It is scheduled from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at The Nature Conservancy Idaho Field Office, Hailey.




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