Weevils of the world, beware.

A Lincoln company is teaming up with federal scientists on BugSmart software and an Insect-O-Graph device that can detect insect larvae inside kernels of wheat and rice.

If such ornery pests as the lesser grain borer or the rice weevil are discovered in meaningful numbers, those moving grain toward food production can use fumigation or some other means to deal with the problem before it spreads, said Tom Pearson, an engineer based in Manhattan, Kan., with USDA's Agricultural Research Service.  Without some means of assessing what's under the kernel surface, "the problem is you can't see the insects from the outside of the grain," Pearson said during a trip to Lincoln on Thursday.

For more information contact:
Dr. Tom Pearson at thomas.pearson@ars.usda.gov
Dr. Dan Brabec at daniel.brabec@ars.usda.gov

Follow this link to view a copy of the full article.
 
Follow this link to view the article as it appeared in the Lincoln Journal Star
http://journalstar.com/business/local/article_63b3ef66-357e-5078-94bd-db426ef6a96b.html * goes to a non-USDA-ARS site.