States also offered inadequate salaries to attract and retain qualified staff in some cases. Hiring freezes prevented the states from filling positions in other cases. But GAO interviews with state officials suggest that current staffing and funding levels will be inadequate to meet new regulatory requirements in the future. Using bees to deliver a biological fungicide to strawberry blooms is more effective and uses less fungicide that mechanical sprayers, say researchers from Ohio State and Cornell universities. The bee delivered natural fungicide was also as effective at preventing gray mold as a commercial chemical fungicide sprayed on plants.
Sprays cover both leaves and flowers, though the target is only the flowers.
Kovach said growers would prefer the bee delivery technique to spraying, which is a labor intensive process involving the mixing and measuring of pesticides and wearing personal protection clothing. Florida residents want to protect their state s national parks from a planned commercial airport at the former Homestead Air Force Base, shows a new survey by national pollster Mark Mellman . By overwhelming margins, Floridians across the state oppose a plan to locate a major airport adjacent to the Everglades. The proposed billion dollar commercial airport would be built on the edge of Biscayne National Park, the Everglades and the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary. Commercial airport developers argue that an airport is necessary because of heavy travel traffic in South Florida.