Scientists breed thousands of aphids to help farmers

Scientists from The Game Conservancy Trust are currently breeding thousands of aphids, which they are going to release on farmland in the next few months.

The aphids, which are being cultured in a specially designed polytunnel at the Trust's HQ in Fordingbridge, form part of a million pound RELU (Rural Economy and Land Use) insect project called 'Re-bugging the system'.

Sue Southway, one of the scientists involved in the project said, "We are breeding the aphids on more than 300 pots of winter wheat. We placed about 20 to 30 aphids on each one and in less than a fortnight the number should increase tenfold. Our experiment certainly illustrates the speed at which they can take hold and infect a field."

Once the required number of aphids has been reached, Sue and her fellow entomologists will be releasing them on farmland in Wiltshire, which has volunteered to be part of the project. The experiment will measure and monitor how quickly beneficial predators such as ground beetles, hoverflies and parasitic wasps respond to the creation of good habit such as beetle banks and conservation headlands, in order to reduce aphid infestations naturally without the use of pesticides.