ORLANDO, Fla. – University of Florida researchers have secured $200,000 in federal funding to study how the invasive pasture mealybug affects Florida sugarcane and how growers can manage the pest.
In a release this week, UF/IFAS officials said the two-year award is part of a federal grant supporting research in Florida and Louisiana, the only states that produce sugarcane in the United States.
UF/IFAS researchers at the Everglades Research and Education Center in Belle Glade are working with Louisiana State University on the project.
“If left unmanaged, pasture mealybug has the potential to destroy an entire sugarcane field,” said Julien Beuzelin, an associate professor of entomology at the center…