Foreign Assistance is Good Business
Oklahoma entrepreneurship creates opportunity half a world away
You likely have seen the brown marmorated stink bug in dark corners of your patio or window sills. This small bug, shaped like a shield with a spotty exterior, has invaded over 40 states across the United States. While just a nuisance for the average person, this stink bug — an invasive pest from Asia — devastates farmers around the world.
This tiny pest has been especially destructive in Georgia, a small country situated at the crossroads of Europe and Asia. An unintended import from Russia, the stink bug has wreaked havoc on the country’s main export crop — the hazelnut. Since 2016, the infestation has caused more than $60 million in losses for Georgia alone and, if not addressed, could potentially spread throughout the region, reaching Azerbaijan and Armenia.
For many small farmers in Georgia, these losses threaten financial ruin.
The good news?
Trécé Inc., a small factory, in Adair, Okla. — population 816 — buzzes with activity as it leads the way in combating the spread of the brown marmorated stink bug. Small assembly teams huddle around sorting tables lining up product parts; others examine each component destined for a Trécé-marked bag for quality control.
The Trécé factory, tucked away in the fields outside of Tulsa, is a global leader in research, design and production of lures that attract and trap stink bugs, and interrupt their reproduction cycle. Deceptively simple in design, the plastic contraptions Trécé produces give farmers in Georgia and elsewhere a fighting chance against the destruction that this invasive pest causes to their crops.
How do bug traps produced in Oklahoma make it to Georgian fields?
USAID has worked alongside the country of Georgia for over two decades. When the infestation began, working through our partners at the U.S.-based Cultivating New Frontiers in Agriculture (CNFA), USAID was able to connect Trécé with government officials in Georgia. As a result of this initial collaboration, Trécé now works directly with the Georgian Government and continues to provide traps, lures and its expertise on how to best combat this invasive pest.
Bill Lingren, owner and founder of Trécé, knows firsthand that tackling environmental challenges like invasive pests is good for farmers and good for business. Using revenues from this partnership, Trécé has increased full-time employment at its factory by 24 percent and is expanding its production footprint — including additional facilities.
But Trécé hasn’t done this alone.
Science and research underpin this work and from Lingren’s perspective, these efforts are strengthened through collaboration among international experts.That’s why he independently sponsored a scientific mission to Georgia, bringing with him a deep bench of experts from Oklahoma and across the United States to work side-by-side with Georgian scientists to strengthen their shared understanding of how to combat the stink bug.
The lessons this group has learned and applied in Georgia stand to benefit thousands of smallholder farmers in Georgia. And back home, farmers are benefiting too. Trécé has already introduced the best-practices it fine-tuned in Georgia to domestic almond growers in California.
“This project is generating benefits on two sides of the world. It is helping thousands of smallholder farmers in Georgia combat a serious infestation by the brown marmorated stink bug — as well as providing significant returns for Trécé, our employees and their communities,” he says.
Invasive pests such as the stink bug are a global threat. They know no borders, and eat their way from one food crop to another. The knowledge and expertise Trécé has shared with the Government of Georgia has ensured the United States has a strong partner in the region to keep these threats at bay.
“At Trécé, we’re proud that our products are being used in a project to protect Georgia’s hazelnut sector, as well as other key crops such as grapes, corn, peaches, apples and vegetables,” Lingren says. “We also are proud of the economic benefits this project is generating closer to home — which are particularly important to U.S. companies in rural areas. In this case, our success in rural Georgia is supporting good-paying jobs in rural Oklahoma.”
At USAID we strive to continue to make these connections that advance our partner countries toward greater self-reliance and promote U.S. business opportunities around the world.
About the Authors
Leisha McParland is the Communications Advisor for USAID’s Europe & Eurasia Bureau. Nate Hojnacki is a Country Desk Officer in the same bureau. Follow their work @USAIDEurope.
