(Jessica Cornelison / KCUR 89.3)

A Texas pecan farmer spent years rethinking whether he needed so many chemicals to grow food. He cut back on things like weedkillers, but when it came to ditching insecticides, crop pests posed a challenge. That’s what brought him together with a famous bat scientist — who helped him build an insect-eating army of bats.

This episode was reported by Michael Marks and produced and mixed by Celia Llopis-Jepsen. Up From Dust's editor is Mackenzie Martin.

Resources:

• Michael Marks' reporting on the bats at Swift River Pecans
• Merlin Tuttle's Bat Conservation website