Insterus-Hz
Our product, Insterus-Hz, is a revolutionary control for a major agricultural pest, the corn earworm. This pest costs US farmers $2 billion dollars per year, and is difficult to control even with sophisticated integrated pest management (IPM) techniques combining pesticides, crop rotation, and beneficial predatory insects.
Our solution, Insterus-Hz, uses an isolate of a naturally-occurring virus that causes sterility in the corn earworm. Moths treated with Insterus-Hz can be released in a field, decreasing the number of eggs laid in the crop and reducing the local population of resistant insects.
HOW DOES IT WORK?
WHY WE BELIEVE IN INSTERUS-HZ
Insterus-Hz is easy to apply, affordable, and safe for the farmer, the consumer, and the environment. Applying our product is as simple as opening a box of Insterus-Hz moths in a field. ​If you are a farmer experiencing with an outbreak of Bt resistant insects​,​ or an organic farmer using beneficial predators, ​Insterus-Hz can help you. The flight patterns of the corn earworm and the natural amplification of Insterus-Hz in the field allows the treatment of large areas with the release of a relatively small number of moths. This reduces cost compared to other insect release strategies, such as the Sterile Insect Technique (SIT) and beneficial predatory insects.
Insterus-Hz is a safer alternative to chemical pesticides highly specific to the corn earworm, and does not have the potential to harm non-target species.
