whether he turns the soil of them are more modern for whether he thrashes his crops by methods as old as farming itself three hundred million years before man appeared on earth the insect was here with time to develop varieties so diverse their numbers are beyond conception this biological wonder this product of natural selection segmented walking flying gigantic insects is in all the animal kingdom through the centur since man first to the soil we have risen to compete with stealing soil nutrient sunshine and moisture producing pollen and poisonous water lettuce destructively that impede the efforts of man to use his often meager supply of water we infesting range lions as well as cultivated comps destroying many forage species on which livestock must  to these destructive forces belong also the forest and disease one hundred thousand different diseases caused by fungi bacteria and enemy and the plant parasitic nematode tiny soil dwelling organism that attack not another nematodes often destroyed the efficiency of roof insects carriers brain death and disease to man himself this insect alone carrier of the organisms that cause malaria in fact one fifteenth of the human race killing a man woman or child somewhere every fifteen seconds other species of mosquitoes twice today's population food production must stay with this rapidly growing world population meanwhile man's ancient enemy continues to multiply this take alone in a few generations and give birth to young outnumbering the population of common housefly in a single summer to help revolutionize the productivity of our own agriculture to help make possible the abundance and high quality of our food supply insecticides to control destructive insects wrote that aside to combat the hated rat enemy of corn and grain storage there are also of human diseases such as bubonic plague all of them pesticide important tools of food production modern weapons to stop the invaders dead in their track still persistent and destructive life vests but each year they take one third of all mangrove in the united states one fourth of all we produce of destruction some so uniquely in down so ingeniously capable of aiding man's most potent weapons have built up over the years resistant to many one effective chemicals within another decade or so many of our existing pesticides may only be minor irrita with man only a step ahead of his enemy new weapons are being devised in the research laboratories thousands of new compounds and control techniques are being developed and put through countless te is there a potential hazard to man and animal it takes years of research to lead chemical meets rigid requirements of safety as well as effective safety safety to man to animals to crops to wildlife to fish to beneficial insects to our total environment safety always the watchword in our use of pesticides to ensure the safety of the united states department of agriculture registers pesticides samples are collected for analysis farben is added to remove any pesticide residue a small sample of the extract is then injected into this gas chromatograph a machine able to detect traces of pesticides down to parts per million or even parts per billion the results of these sophisticated tests may restrict the approved uses of certain types or even take them off the market completely research has given us still another major weapon to use in this battle against pest manipulating or changing the environment in which insect nematodes we and diseases drive it is called ecological or cultural control among its practices are tilling the soil use of seed in planting stock treated to resist disease rotation of crops kept cropping to help success the development and emergence of certain harmful past the land is conditioned to discourage i in this half of our century man has conquered the adam front two years of space the depths of the ocean but not this advanced technology be applied to  pose a major problem our livestock industry in the southern half of the nation p developed huge numbers of sterile male flies were dropped very infested areas to mate with females flying soon drastically reducing the population of a major  sterilizing technique has also been used to deplete the ranks of other major insects the mexican f certain radiations have special attraction for many night flying insects specifically greys in the realm of the ultra violent or so called black light in one experiment more than half of the adult target in sex population was captured as it responded to the color and wavelength of these r with sex a chink in the armor of some insect man is trying to use a highly active natural attraction in the scene a lot of many species an attractant related to reproduction in this experiment and older similar to that given off by the female household cockroach so arouses the males that it collects in frantic numbers for search that may lead to new methods of pest control scientists also study the ecology of pest and man the balance nature maintains among all living things most insects have natural enemies parasites and predatory often a parasite the entire life cycle takes place within the host insect the larvae of a tiny wasp destroy the internal organs of this  from the rivers of south america is a predator of a different type it feeds on a quite a queen eat this snails voracious appetite for wheat maybe the answer to a serious problem in the in the competition between man and insects sometimes microorganisms which are found in nature helps the farmer by causing natural outbreaks of disease and death among major past the cabbage death through destructive bacteria fungi or a virus fifth are also subject to disease the results are eviden environmental conditions are of primary concern in the field testing of these microorganisms variable weather factors are measured and correlated such as temperature and humidity solar radi man is also applied his science of genetics to breed a wide variety of food crops that are resist and to the ravages of insects and disease he studies relationships between a host plant and its insect determine why the plant provides a perfect fit for the insect world by selective breeding re combination of genes he adds physical and biochemical factors to alter this devastation was caused by the european corn war from a long was almost fifty percent but progress has been made in developing corn borer resistant hybrid improved quality today scientists are designing integrated pest control systems which combine chemical biological cultural and other control techniques such integrated systems harmonized with the environment could be like shape of the future in the battle against pe but in many parts of the world despite all of his triumphs man often rates only two thirds of what he has sold to for himself one for the hungry pests in some areas one for him selves one for the enemy what will be man's share of the world's food supply in years to come today our planet contains both the haves and have nots nations people living in abundance and those and gauged in a daily fight for survival if this gap is to be closed modern agricultural science and technology must continue to provide the farmer with new more effective and even safer weapons in the never ending battle against the ravages of insect weed plant disease and other pest despite notable about the age old struggle to protect and increase the abundance and quality of our food production insistent question remains who shall remain a man long his enem