Termites are not typically considered an agricultural pest, but they are a great example of how science, in particular biology, can be used to create better pest management solutions that have real economic impacts.

Termites cost U.S. homeowners at least $5 billion per year. The landmark innovation in termite pest control happened about 30 years ago, with a partnership between Corteva Agriscience and the University of Florida to develop Sentricon. It’s a story of not only a new tool to use against termites but a new way to think about pest management.

Stephen Gates joins us from Cooks Pest Control. Gates has a degree in entomology and has been helping Cooks offer Sentricon to their clients for nearly 27 years. We’ll also be hearing from Garima Kakkar and Neil Spomer, Corteva experts who work behind-the-scenes to improve Sentricon every year. Garima is the Global Biology Lead for urban pests and Neil works as a field trial modernization lead.

“ This time of year and in the spring it was running wild. Just trying to take care of current customers who were having swarms, dealing with damaged claims, dealing with new customers, working with them because they were having swarms.... Homeowners are scared. They hear about these things and now all of a sudden they see them. And now my biggest investment's being chewed on by a bug, right?” - Stephen Gates

Before Sentricon was created, liquid chemicals were the only option for homeowners to protect themselves from termite damage. With Sentricon, pest control technicians set up bait stations. These bait stations use the natural behavior and biology of the termites against them. But the genius behind Sentricon is not just getting the termites to eat bait, it’s capitalizing on something called trophylaxis which means that termites rely on their hunters and foragers to not just collect food, but to regurgitate it to the rest of the colony.

“  For termite baiting to work, you need it to be both non repellent, you don't want the termites to know that they're eating anything that is bad for them, and it has to be really slow acting so that they have time to go back to the colony and through trophylaxis, share it with the rest of their nest mates.” - Neil Spomer

A few takeaways from this episode:

1. Termites are fascinating. From how they establish colonies, to trophylaxis, to their ability to avoid dangerous environments, they are a very interesting species.
2. Understanding biology at a deeper level can lead to innovations in management. Rather than trying to find more and more effective ways to inject chemicals, Sentricon rethinks the process from first principles.
3. Adoption of innovation takes time. Sentricon has been effective from the beginning and improved over 30 years, but some customers are still just uncomfortable with trying a new approach.

Agriscience Explained is brought to you by Corteva Agriscience and hosted by Tim Hammerich. This show is produced by Clint Pilcher, Rayda Krell and Ann Leonard. Jaime Hammerich and Grant Bolton edit these podcasts, and the music was composed by Dmitri Volkov. Subscribe for more Agriscience Explained: From Science to Solutions.