Ridge Quest is a Michigan Company located in Kent City. This area is known for apple and fruit production. A number of insect pests present serious problems for fruit orchards, with codling moth and obliquebanded leafroller being the most serious.
Traditionally, chemical pesticides have controlled these insects, but in recent years, resistance to the pesticides has increased and the toxicity of the pesticides has become a serious problem for beneficial insects. There is now greater interest in using biocontrol methods that use natural insect pheromones.
Ridge Quest has developed a device that quickly distributes pheromone-releasing devices, substantially reducing the cost of this biocontrol approach. Last year, the company produced 500,000 of these devices and plan to produce over one million devices next year. They also plan to expand their distribution to other apple and fruit growing regions in the country.
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