Inspirational idea: Controlling wireworms in potato production
Austrian Operational Group looking for alternative, environmentally friendly control methods.
Wireworms, the larvae of click beetles, cause major losses in potato production across Europe. The situation in recent years seems to be worsening due to climate change as Johannes Mayer, Austrian potato farmer explains: “Wireworm damage is more significant in drier soils as the wireworms search for moisture, as well as food.” An Operational Group in Austria has been carrying out trials to find alternative control measures without using synthetic pesticides.
Wireworms spend up to 5 years in the soil, feeding on plant roots as well as tubers at several periods during the year. This means that they affect crops from planting through to harvest. The larvae tunnel through the potatoes, usually making them unfit for sale as table or seed potatoes, also making them unsuitable for storage and allowing diseases to take hold more easily. This has significant economic impact for potato farmers each year. In Austria, wireworms cause about 10% loss of table potatoes, meaning 30,000 tons, amounting to several million euros. Eduard Paminger, another Austrian potato farmer interviewed during the project: “50% of my last harvest were damaged by wireworms, and this is actually equal to a total loss because it’s almost impossible to sort out the un-damaged potatoes.”