Ecological reward

Two American pest control researchers received this year's World Food Prize for work on cutting the use of insecticides on crops while maintaining or increasing yields.

Ray F. Smith, 78, and Perry L. Adkisson, 68, will share the $250,000 cash prize. "They helped bring about a dramatic reduction in the use of chemical pesticides," said a statement on the award. It said their new approaches to agricultural pest control had sparked a global ecological revolution, reducing insecticide use on US crops alone by 50 per cent. -AP