Will we start calling them beneficial insects? Nah, it’s unlikely, but we did want to share this back-story.
For marketing reasons, due to its common usage, the term beneficial insects, or beneficials as some say, is a good one to apply in the pursuit of sales of good bugs. If you’ll notice, though, we rarely use the term on this site or in any of our literature. We’ve always tried to be proper and true in our dissemination of information — factual information we believe. Thus, we usually call them biocontrols (the contraction of biological pest controls). We will also refer to them as natural enemies and, of course, oddly enough within this context, good bugs. But why? What’s up with that?
Because They Said So
It all began with a phone conversation I had with a staff member of the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), a branch of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). This was back in the early nineties and we were discussing a permitting issue. I casually referred to the critters in question as “beneficial insects.” The staff member I was talking to stopped me at that point, verbally holding up his hand.
“You shouldn’t use that term,” he suggested.
“Why not?” I asked, curious.
“Well,” he said, “the organisms that you’re distributing aren’t all insects, are they?”
“True. We do deal with insects, mites, and nematodes,” I conceded. “But why not the beneficial part of it?”
“Ah, if you were an aphid, would you think of ladybugs or lacewings as beneficial?” he asked.
“No,” I said, “I suppose not.”
It was sort of funny. He was quite serious, and that level of technicality is sort of humorous on it’s own right. But even funnier I think, as I look back on it, is the fact that we embraced that terminological suggestion so religiously for all these years. He was right, after all, his suggestion is politically correct, so to speak. But it’s really no big deal. Not at all. We’re so easy.
Will we change? Will we start calling them beneficial insects? Nah, it’s unlikely, but we did want to share this back-story.
