The corn earworm, also known as the bollworm, is one of the most destructive pests of corn, cotton, and soybean across the united states

North Carolina State University received a $325,000 Project Grant awarded on September 30, 2025, by the U.S. Department of Agriculture National Institute of Food and Agriculture (USDA NIFA) under the Crop Protection and Pest Management (CPPM) Competitive Grants Program (CFDA 10.329). The three-year project, which extends through September 29, 2028, will develop and evaluate innovative integrated pest management (IPM) strategies to control corn earworm and tobacco budworm—two of the most destructive pests affecting corn, cotton, and soybean production nationwide. The project combines field-based research with economic analysis to test two primary management approaches: (1) drone-facilitated release of beneficial insects to suppress corn earworm populations at scale, and (2) pheromone-based mating disruption to reduce reproduction and population density. By integrating emerging drone technology with established biological control principles, the project aims to provide farmers with practical, cost-effective alternatives that reduce reliance on conventional insecticides while addressing growing pest resistance to biotechnology-based solutions like Bt crops.

Virginia Polytechnic Institute & State University (Virginia Tech) serves as a sub-awardee responsible for executing the augmentative biological control research objective and coordinating pheromone mating disruption field trials. Virginia Tech will lead the design and execution of drone-based beneficial insect release protocols—leveraging the institution's two FAA-licensed pilots—and will adapt existing mating disruption methodologies from specialty crop research for application in field crops. The project will also generate detailed cost-benefit analysis across all proposed management tactics to inform future adoption decisions by growers and industry stakeholders. This research directly addresses the CPPM program's goal of advancing integrated, multifunctional agricultural approaches to high-priority pest management challenges at the state, regional, and national levels.

Each year, this insect causes hundreds of millions of dollars in crop losses and control costs. Compounding the problem, IT has developed resistance to widely used control tools such as BT crops, and climate change is expanding its range northward, threatening additional farmland. A closely related pest, the tobacco budworm, was once one of the most serious threats to cotton but is now largely controlled by BT crops. However, growers still pay for its management through trait fees in seed, and IT remains an occasional pest of soybean and a major pest of crops like tobacco and tomato. Overreliance on insecticides to control both pests raises production costs and increases environmental and human health risks. Because of these challenges, new approaches are urgently needed to manage these insects in ways that are effective, economical, and sustainable for farming communities. This project will test two innovative approaches to reduce pest populations that are not often tested in row crops (corn, cotton, and soybeans, for example). First, we will release beneficial insects using drones to see whether natural enemies can be used at scale to suppress the corn earworm in corn, cotton, and soybeans. Second, we will test whether releasing pheromones can disrupt mating and reduce corn earworm populations. Alongside these field studies, we will calculate the true costs and potential savings from these methods, giving farmers and industry partners clear information about whether the strategies are practical. Because corn earworm and tobacco budworm are closely related, results from this work may also benefit management of tobacco budworm and help protect crops like tobacco, tomato, and other vegetables.by combining new technology with careful economic analysis, the project aims to provide farmers with tools that reduce pesticide use, lower production costs, and protect the environment. If successful, these approaches will improve farm profitability, lessen risks to human and environmental health, and strengthen the resilience of U.S. Agriculture in the face of changing pest pressures.