Cost Trends for Bacillus thuringiensis in the Maine Spruce Budworm Control Program

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Abstract
To render Bacillus thuringiensis Berliner suitable for widespread use in spruce budworm, Choristoneura fumiferana Clemens, control, it was necessary to achieve significant improvements in reliability and efficacy along with significant reductions in its cost. In the Maine spruce budworm program, progress in these areas made B. thuringiensis cost-competitive with chemical insecticides by the mid 1980's. Total cost of applying B. thuringiensis fell by two-thirds from 1980 to 1985. Intensive work by manufacturers, university and federal scientists, and spray program managers, facilitated by extensive regionwide sharing of information, contributed to this result. Introducing forestry pesticides to operational use is currently taking too long. Cuts in federal forestry budgets have reduced our capacity to solve these problems in the future.

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