Rice stink bugs spread across 37 Japan prefectures as damage mounts

Rice stink bugs, a native species in Japan that feeds on rice, are rapidly increasing nationwide and causing widespread damage, with experts and the government warning that their habitat could further expand as global warming enables more of them to survive winter.The Japanese government has confirmed the bug's presence in 37 of the nation's 47 prefectures, stretching from the Kyushu region in the southwest to Fukushima Prefecture in the northeast."I absolutely do not want to suffer that kind of damage again," said Masayuki Watanabe, a 58-year-old rice farmer in Tochigi Prefecture, north of…READ FULL ARTICLE