Natural pest control ... using bugs! | Shimon Steinberg | TEDxTelAviv
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0:13 - 0:15How many of you actually love bugs?
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0:16 - 0:17Just raise your hand.
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0:17 - 0:20Love bugs - I mean,
maybe not love - fond of bugs. -
0:21 - 0:24Okay. Well, I would say
roughly around 10 percent. -
0:25 - 0:27Something like that.
That's not bad at all. -
0:28 - 0:30I'm a bug lover, myself...
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0:30 - 0:32Not from childhood, by the way,
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0:32 - 0:33but rather late.
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0:34 - 0:36When I bachelored,
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0:36 - 0:39majoring in zoology
at Tel Aviv University, -
0:39 - 0:41I kind of fell in love with bugs.
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0:41 - 0:43And then, within zoology,
-
0:43 - 0:46I took the course
or the discipline of entomology, -
0:46 - 0:48the science of insects.
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0:49 - 0:52And then I thought to myself,
how can I be practical -
0:52 - 0:55or help in the science of entomology?
-
0:55 - 0:58And then I moved to the world
of plant protection... -
0:58 - 1:01Plant protection from insects,
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1:01 - 1:03from bad bugs.
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1:03 - 1:05And then within plant protection,
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1:05 - 1:09I came into the discipline
of biological pest control, -
1:09 - 1:11which we actually define
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1:11 - 1:14as the use of living organisms
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1:14 - 1:19to reduce populations
of noxious plant pests. -
1:19 - 1:22So it's a whole discipline
in plant protection -
1:22 - 1:25aimed at the reduction of chemicals.
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1:26 - 1:28And biological pest control, by the way,
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1:28 - 1:31or these "good bugs"
that we are talking about, -
1:31 - 1:35they've existed in the world
for thousands and thousands of years, -
1:35 - 1:36for a long, long time.
-
1:36 - 1:39But only in the last 120 years,
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1:39 - 1:43people started, or people
knew more and more -
1:43 - 1:47how to exploit, or how to use,
this biological control phenomenon, -
1:47 - 1:51or in fact, natural control phenomenon,
-
1:51 - 1:53for their own needs.
-
1:53 - 1:57Because biological control phenomenon...
You can see it in your backyard. -
1:57 - 2:00Just take a magnifying glass.
You see what I have here? -
2:00 - 2:04That's a magnifier, times 10.
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2:04 - 2:07You just open it, twist leaves,
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2:07 - 2:10and you see a whole new world
of minute insects, -
2:10 - 2:15or little spiders of one millimeter,
one-and-a-half, two millimeters long, -
2:16 - 2:18and you can distinguish
between the good ones and the bad ones. -
2:19 - 2:23So this phenomenon of natural control
exists literally everywhere. -
2:23 - 2:25Here, in front of this building, I'm sure.
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2:25 - 2:27Just have a look at the plants.
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2:27 - 2:31So it's everywhere,
and we need to know how to exploit it. -
2:32 - 2:34Well, let's go hand by hand
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2:34 - 2:37and browse through just a few examples.
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2:37 - 2:39What is a pest?
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2:39 - 2:42What damage does it actually
inflict on the plant? -
2:42 - 2:44And what is the natural enemy,
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2:44 - 2:47the biological control agent,
or the "good bug" -
2:47 - 2:48that we're talking about?
-
2:48 - 2:54In general, I'm going to talk
about insects and spiders, -
2:54 - 2:56or mites, let us call them.
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2:56 - 2:59Insects, those six-legged organisms
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2:59 - 3:03and spiders or mites,
the eight-legged organisms. -
3:03 - 3:04Let's have a look at that.
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3:04 - 3:07Here is a devastating pest, a spider mite,
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3:07 - 3:10because it does a lot
of webbing, like a spider. -
3:11 - 3:12You see the mother in between,
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3:12 - 3:15and two daughters, probably,
on the left and right, -
3:15 - 3:17and a single egg on the right-hand side.
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3:17 - 3:19And then you see
what kind of damage it can inflict. -
3:19 - 3:22On your right-hand side,
you can see a cucumber leaf, -
3:22 - 3:24in the middle, a cotton leaf,
-
3:24 - 3:27and on the left, a tomato leaf
with these little stipplings. -
3:27 - 3:30They can literally turn
from green to white, -
3:30 - 3:35because of the sucking, piercing
mouth parts of those spiders. -
3:36 - 3:40But here comes nature,
that provides us with a good spider. -
3:42 - 3:45This is a predatory mite...
Just as small as a spider mite; -
3:45 - 3:48one, two millimeters long,
not more than that... -
3:48 - 3:52Running quickly, hunting,
chasing the spider mites. -
3:52 - 3:56And here, you can see this lady
in action on your left-hand side... -
3:56 - 4:02Just pierces, sucks the body fluids
on the left-hand side of the pest mite. -
4:02 - 4:04And after five minutes,
this is what you see: -
4:04 - 4:07just a typical dead corpse...
-
4:07 - 4:10The shriveled, sucked-out,
dead corpse of the spider mite, -
4:10 - 4:15and next to it, two satiated
individuals, predatory mites. -
4:15 - 4:18By the way, a meal for them for 24 hours,
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4:18 - 4:23is about five of the spider mites,
of the bad mites, -
4:23 - 4:27and-or 15 to 20 eggs of the pest mites.
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4:27 - 4:30By the way, they are always hungry.
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4:30 - 4:32(Laughter)
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4:32 - 4:34And here is another example: aphids.
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4:34 - 4:36It's springtime now in Israel.
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4:36 - 4:39When temperatures rise sharply,
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4:39 - 4:42you can see those bad ones,
those aphids, all over the plants... -
4:42 - 4:45In your hibiscus, in your lantana,
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4:45 - 4:49in the young, fresh foliage
of the so-called spring flush. -
4:49 - 4:53By the way, with aphids you have
only females, like Amazons. -
4:53 - 4:56Females giving rise to females,
giving rise to other females. -
4:56 - 4:58No males at all.
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4:58 - 5:00Parthenogenesis, as it's so called.
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5:00 - 5:02And they're very happy
with that, apparently. -
5:02 - 5:03(Laughter)
-
5:03 - 5:05Here we can see the damage.
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5:05 - 5:12Those aphids secrete a sticky,
sugary liquid called honeydew, -
5:12 - 5:17and this just clogs
the upper parts of the plant. -
5:17 - 5:20Here you see a typical cucumber leaf
that turned from green to black -
5:20 - 5:25because of a black fungus, sooty mold,
which is covering it. -
5:25 - 5:31And here comes the salvation,
through this parasitic wasp. -
5:31 - 5:33Here we are not talking about a predator.
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5:33 - 5:35Here we are talking a parasite...
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5:35 - 5:37Not a two-legged parasite,
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5:37 - 5:40but an eight-legged parasite, of course.
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5:40 - 5:42This is a parasitic wasp,
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5:42 - 5:48again, two millimeters long, slender,
a very quick and sharp flier. -
5:48 - 5:52And here you can see
this parasite in action, -
5:52 - 5:55like in an acrobatic maneuver.
-
5:55 - 5:56She stands vis-à-vis
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5:56 - 5:59in front of the victim
at the right-hand side, -
5:59 - 6:04bending its abdomen
and inserting a single egg -
6:04 - 6:06into the body fluids of the aphid.
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6:06 - 6:08By the way, the aphid tries to escape.
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6:08 - 6:12She kicks and bites
and secretes different liquids, -
6:12 - 6:14but nothing will happen, in fact...
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6:14 - 6:18Only the egg of the parasitoid
will be inserted -
6:18 - 6:20into the body fluids of the aphid.
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6:20 - 6:23And after a few days,
depending upon temperature, -
6:23 - 6:24the egg will hatch
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6:24 - 6:29and the larva of this parasite
will eat the aphid from the inside. -
6:29 - 6:30(Laughter)
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6:30 - 6:32This is all natural. This is all natural.
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6:33 - 6:35This is not fiction, nothing at all.
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6:35 - 6:37Again... in your backyard.
In your backyard. -
6:38 - 6:39(Laughter)
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6:39 - 6:41(Applause)
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6:41 - 6:46But this is the end result: mummies.
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6:46 - 6:52This is the visual result
of a dead aphid encompassing inside, -
6:53 - 6:58a developing parasitoid that,
after a few minutes, you see halfway out. -
6:59 - 7:01The birth is almost complete.
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7:01 - 7:04You can see, by the way,
in different movies, etc., -
7:04 - 7:06it takes just a few minutes.
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7:06 - 7:09And if this is a female,
she'll immediately mate with a male -
7:09 - 7:12and off she goes,
because time is very short. -
7:12 - 7:15This female can live
only three to four days, -
7:15 - 7:18and she needs to give rise
to around 400 eggs. -
7:18 - 7:22That means she has 400 bad aphids
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7:22 - 7:25to put her eggs into their body fluids.
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7:26 - 7:27This is, of course, not the end of it.
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7:28 - 7:30There is a whole wealth
of other natural enemies -
7:30 - 7:32and this is just the last example.
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7:32 - 7:34Again, we'll start first with the pest:
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7:34 - 7:36the thrips.
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7:36 - 7:38By the way, all these weird names...
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7:38 - 7:41I didn't bother you with the Latin
names of these creatures, -
7:41 - 7:43just the popular names.
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7:43 - 7:47But this is a nice,
slender, very bad pest. -
7:47 - 7:49If you can see this: sweet peppers.
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7:49 - 7:52This is not just an exotic,
ornamental sweet pepper. -
7:52 - 7:55This is a sweet pepper
which is not consumable -
7:55 - 7:58because it is suffering
from a viral disease -
7:58 - 8:01transmitted by those thrip adults.
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8:01 - 8:05And here comes the natural enemy,
minute pirate bug... -
8:05 - 8:07"minute," because it is rather small.
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8:07 - 8:11Here you can see the adult,
black, and two young ones. -
8:11 - 8:12And again, in action.
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8:12 - 8:15This adult pierces the thrips,
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8:16 - 8:18sucking it within just several minutes,
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8:18 - 8:21going to the other prey,
continuing all over the place. -
8:21 - 8:26And if we spread those minute
pirate bugs, the good ones, -
8:26 - 8:29for example, in a sweet pepper plot,
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8:29 - 8:30they go to the flowers.
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8:30 - 8:35And look... this flower is flooded
with predatory bugs, with the good ones, -
8:35 - 8:39after wiping out the bad ones, the thrips.
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8:39 - 8:41So this is a very positive situation.
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8:41 - 8:45No harm to the developing fruit.
No harm to the fruit set. -
8:45 - 8:48Everything is just fine
under these circumstances. -
8:48 - 8:50But again, the question is,
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8:50 - 8:54here you saw them on a one-to-one basis...
The pest, the natural enemy. -
8:54 - 8:57What we do is actually this.
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8:59 - 9:02In Northeast Israel,
in Kibbutz Sde Eliyahu, -
9:02 - 9:06there is a facility that mass-produces
those natural enemies. -
9:07 - 9:13In other words, what we do there
is amplify the natural control, -
9:13 - 9:15or the biological control phenomenon.
-
9:15 - 9:20And in 30,000 square meters
of state-of-the-art greenhouses, -
9:20 - 9:24there, we are mass-producing
those predatory mites, -
9:24 - 9:25those minute pirate bugs,
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9:25 - 9:28those parasitic wasps, etc.
-
9:28 - 9:30Many different parts.
-
9:30 - 9:32By the way, they have
a very nice landscape... -
9:32 - 9:34You see the Jordanian Mountains
on the one hand, -
9:34 - 9:36and the Jordan Valley on the other hand,
-
9:36 - 9:40and a good, mild winter
and a nice, hot summer, -
9:40 - 9:44which is an excellent condition
to mass-produce those creatures. -
9:44 - 9:49And by the way, mass-production...
It is not genetic manipulation. -
9:49 - 9:53There are no GMOs... genetically
modified organisms... whatsoever. -
9:53 - 9:54We take them from nature,
-
9:54 - 9:59and the only thing that we do
is give them the optimal conditions, -
9:59 - 10:01under the greenhouses
or in the climate rooms, -
10:01 - 10:05in order to proliferate,
multiply and reproduce. -
10:05 - 10:07And that's what we get.
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10:07 - 10:09You see under a microscope.
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10:09 - 10:13You see in the upper left corner?
You see a single predatory mite. -
10:13 - 10:17And this is the whole bunch
of predatory mites. -
10:17 - 10:19You see this ampul. You see this one.
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10:20 - 10:23I have one gram of those predatory mites.
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10:23 - 10:27One gram is 80,000 individuals.
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10:27 - 10:3380,000 individuals are good enough
to control one acre, -
10:33 - 10:354,000 square meters,
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10:35 - 10:37of a strawberry plot
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10:37 - 10:40against spider mites for the whole season
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10:40 - 10:41of almost one year.
-
10:42 - 10:45And we can produce
from this, believe you me, -
10:45 - 10:50several dozens of kilograms
on an annual basis. -
10:50 - 10:54So this is what I call
amplification of the phenomenon. -
10:54 - 10:58And no, we do not disrupt the balance.
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10:58 - 10:59On the contrary,
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10:59 - 11:02because we bring it to every cultural plot
-
11:02 - 11:05where the balance was already disrupted
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11:05 - 11:06by the chemicals.
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11:06 - 11:08Here we come with those natural enemies
-
11:08 - 11:11in order to reverse
a little bit of the wheel -
11:11 - 11:15and to bring more natural balance
to the agricultural plot -
11:15 - 11:17by reducing those chemicals.
-
11:17 - 11:18That's the whole idea.
-
11:19 - 11:20And what is the impact?
-
11:21 - 11:24In this table, you can
actually see what is an impact -
11:24 - 11:28of a successful biological
control by good bugs. -
11:29 - 11:35For example, in Israel, where we employ
more than 1,000 hectares... -
11:35 - 11:3810,000 dunams in Israeli terms...
-
11:38 - 11:40Of biological pests
controlling sweet pepper -
11:40 - 11:42under protection,
-
11:42 - 11:4575 percent of the pesticides
were actually reduced. -
11:46 - 11:48And Israeli strawberries, even more...
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11:48 - 11:5080 percent of the pesticides,
-
11:50 - 11:54especially those aimed
against pest mites in strawberries. -
11:55 - 11:57So the impact is very strong.
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11:58 - 12:00And there goes the question,
-
12:00 - 12:03especially if you ask
growers, agriculturists: -
12:03 - 12:05Why biological control?
-
12:05 - 12:07Why good bugs?
-
12:07 - 12:10By the way, the number of answers you get
-
12:10 - 12:12equals the number of people you ask.
-
12:14 - 12:18But if we go, for example,
to this place, Southeast Israel, -
12:18 - 12:22the Arava area
above the Great Rift Valley, -
12:22 - 12:27where the pearl of Israeli
agriculture is located, -
12:27 - 12:30especially under greenhouse conditions,
or under screenhouse conditions... -
12:31 - 12:33If you drive all the way
to Eilat, you see this -
12:33 - 12:35just in the middle of the desert.
-
12:35 - 12:37And if you zoom in,
-
12:37 - 12:39you can definitely watch this:
-
12:39 - 12:41grandparents with their grandchildren,
-
12:41 - 12:44distributing the natural
enemies, the good bugs, -
12:44 - 12:46instead of wearing special clothes
-
12:46 - 12:49and gas masks and applying chemicals.
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12:49 - 12:52So safety, with respect
to the application, -
12:52 - 12:55is the number one answer
that we get from growers, -
12:55 - 12:57for "Why biological control?"
-
12:58 - 13:02Number two, many growers
are, in fact, petrified -
13:02 - 13:06by the idea of resistance,
-
13:06 - 13:10that the pests will become
resistant to the chemicals, -
13:10 - 13:14just like in our case, that bacteria
becomes resistant to antibiotics. -
13:14 - 13:17It's the same, and it can
happen very quickly. -
13:18 - 13:22Fortunately, in either biological control
or even natural control, -
13:22 - 13:25resistance is extremely rare.
-
13:26 - 13:27It hardly happens.
-
13:27 - 13:31Because this is evolution,
this is the natural ratio, -
13:31 - 13:34unlike resistance, which happens
in the case of chemicals. -
13:34 - 13:37And thirdly, public demand.
-
13:39 - 13:43The more the public demands
the reduction of chemicals, -
13:43 - 13:47the more growers become aware of the fact
-
13:47 - 13:49that they should, wherever they can
and wherever possible, -
13:49 - 13:53replace the chemical control
with biological control. -
13:53 - 13:55Even here, there is another grower,
-
13:56 - 13:59you see, very interested in the bugs,
the bad ones and the good ones, -
13:59 - 14:02wearing this magnifier
already on her head, -
14:02 - 14:04just walking safely in her crop.
-
14:05 - 14:09Finally, I want to get to my vision,
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14:09 - 14:11or, in fact, to my dream.
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14:11 - 14:13Because, you see, this is the reality.
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14:13 - 14:15Have a look at the gap.
-
14:15 - 14:17If we take the overall turnover
-
14:17 - 14:19of the biocontrol industry worldwide,
-
14:19 - 14:21it's 250 million dollars.
-
14:22 - 14:25And look at the overall pesticide industry
-
14:25 - 14:27in all the crops throughout the world.
-
14:28 - 14:31I think it's times 100
or something like that. -
14:31 - 14:32Twenty-five billion.
-
14:32 - 14:35So there is a huge gap to bridge.
-
14:36 - 14:38So actually, how can we do it?
-
14:38 - 14:42How can we bridge, or let's say,
narrow, this gap over the years? -
14:42 - 14:46First of all, we need to find more robust,
-
14:46 - 14:49good and reliable biological solutions,
-
14:49 - 14:54more good bugs that we can
either mass-produce -
14:54 - 14:56or actually conserve in the field.
-
14:57 - 15:01Secondly, to create even more intensive
and strict public demand -
15:01 - 15:04for the reduction of chemicals
in agricultural fresh produce. -
15:05 - 15:09And thirdly, also to increase
awareness by the growers -
15:09 - 15:11to the potential of this industry.
-
15:12 - 15:14And this gap really narrows.
-
15:14 - 15:17Step by step, it does narrow.
-
15:19 - 15:21You know, I started with a personal note.
-
15:21 - 15:23I think I will end with a personal note.
-
15:24 - 15:25I'm a marathon runner
-
15:25 - 15:28and this week, on Thursday,
-
15:28 - 15:31I'm with a lovely group of people
-
15:33 - 15:36and we organize
a long distance relay race. -
15:36 - 15:38210 kilometres.
-
15:38 - 15:42From the Lebanese border,
all the way to Jezreel Valley. -
15:43 - 15:44Groups of people will run.
-
15:44 - 15:48Relay - 8 people, 6 people, 4, 2,
and even one. -
15:49 - 15:50All this distance.
-
15:50 - 15:52And I see a lot of similarities.
-
15:52 - 15:53between this type of race
-
15:54 - 15:56and the thing that I do
with biological control. -
15:56 - 16:00Because, first of all,
you run this race in nature. -
16:00 - 16:02What I do in biological control -
-
16:02 - 16:04in fact many times I go
out there also in nature -
16:04 - 16:06to look for my good bugs.
-
16:07 - 16:10Secondly, this relay race is a team work.
-
16:10 - 16:12And also in the case
of biological control, -
16:12 - 16:14it's also a team work.
-
16:14 - 16:16Groups of people studying, researching,
-
16:16 - 16:20implementing, collaboration with growers,
with the public - it's team work. -
16:21 - 16:24And thirdly, it's a long and winding road.
-
16:24 - 16:26Even in the marathon.
-
16:26 - 16:29You stumble, fall, rise and continue.
-
16:29 - 16:33You know how many times
we stumble amd fall -
16:33 - 16:34in the case of biological control?
-
16:35 - 16:37But we actually never give up.
-
16:38 - 16:40So I think my last slide is:
-
16:40 - 16:42All we are saying...
We can actually sing it... -
16:43 - 16:45Give nature a chance.
-
16:45 - 16:48I'm saying it on behalf
of all the biocontrol practitioners -
16:48 - 16:49and implementers,
-
16:49 - 16:51in Israel and abroad,
-
16:51 - 16:53really give nature a chance.
-
16:54 - 16:55Thank you.
-
16:55 - 16:57(Applause)
- Title:
- Natural pest control ... using bugs! | Shimon Steinberg | TEDxTelAviv
- Description:
-
Shimon Steinberg looks at the difference between pests and bugs -- and makes the case for using good bugs to fight bad bugs, avoiding chemicals in our quest for perfect produce.
- Video Language:
- English
- Team:
- closed TED
- Project:
- TEDxTalks
- Duration:
- 17:01
TED Translators admin edited English subtitles for TEDxTelAviv - Shimon Steinberg - Bugs are Good for your Health | ||
Ivana Korom edited English subtitles for TEDxTelAviv - Shimon Steinberg - Bugs are Good for your Health | ||
Ivana Korom edited English subtitles for TEDxTelAviv - Shimon Steinberg - Bugs are Good for your Health |