Ever heard of Aphidius, Chrysoperla, or Encarsia? While these names might sound like villains from a science-fiction serial, they are, in fact, ordinary insects at work in gardens and greenhouses across the country. They are a few of the many tiny helpers that quietly hunt the pests which damage our crops. It turns out that a healthy growing space is alive with a wide variety of insects, including beetles, wasps, and lacewings, with many pest outbreaks being linked to a loss in this diversity. According to researcher Priya Sandhu, whose studies have traced links between insect variety and crop damage, "The part these tiny hunters appear to play in protecting our plants is remarkable and will open doors to new ways of growing food." She envisions that encouraging these insects may soon replace the practice of drenching fields with chemical pesticides, an approach that, with pesticide-resistant bugs on the rise, is becoming worryingly unreliable.

Entomologist Hugo Lindqvist is unconvinced, contending that it remains unclear whether the pest declines linked to insect variety are their cause or merely their by-product. "Studies have found both a rise in helpful insects and a drop in pest numbers when growers simply cut back on spraying," says Lindqvist, who allows that insect populations usually shift whenever a field's chemical routine is changed. He stresses, "It is uncertain whether stocking a field with a better mix of insects, without any matching change to how the land is sprayed, would do much for crop health overall."