In their native China, they are called “stinky big sisters.” In Anne Arundel County, farmers might call them something worse.

While area homeowners battle the brown marmorated stink bug as a nuisance, some farmers in the Mid-Atlantic region are fighting these pests to save their crops.

“I didn’t see too much damage last year, but they sure came in big,” said Ray Davis of Good Luck Farms in Davidsonville. “They stayed in the woods and would come in waves, so if you got rid of one batch, the next would be right behind it. I think we’re looking at a big problem.”

The brown marmorated stink bug is an import from Asia. They were seen as early as the mid-1990s in Pennsylvania. These bugs are thought to have been brought into this country in shipping containers.

There are no pesticides proven effective in controlling stink bug populations. Researchers at the University of Maryland Extension are currently looking at pheromones, as well as the light spectrum to lure and trap these hearty pests.

While some insects in the United States prey on stink bugs, they are not making an impact on the growing population. Asia has native parasitic wasps that lay eggs inside the stink bug eggs, destroying them at a rate of 50 to 80 percent.

A USDA research team in Delaware is studying these wasps to make sure they don’t pose a threat to native insects before considering them as an effective control in this country.

As the studies continue, the threat grows. Stink bugs feed on a wide variety of fruits, vegetables and ornamental plants including corn, soybeans, tomatoes, peppers and berries, as well as chrysanthemums, zinnias and sunflowers.

A stink bug uses its long probiscus to pierce a food source and feed. It leaves behind a brown discoloration at the puncture site, making a fruit or vegetable unmarketable.

Orchards in western and central Maryland reported extensive stinkbug damage for the 2010 season.

On a recent Saturday at the Riva Road Farmer’s Market, farmers expressed concern over the growing threat.

“I think they will be worse this year,” said Martin Zehner of Zehner Farms in Davidsonville. “I’m afraid they’ll get into my sweet corn. We won’t know until it’s cooked and the kernels darken. Then my customers will think they bought rotten corn.”

“I’ve got a 50-foot greenhouse, and they are in there on my plants,” said Larry Olmo of Olmo Brothers Landscaping and Nursery. “So far they aren’t eating anything, but I’m trying to sell fragrant herbs. They get their stink on the herbs and I can’t use them.”

Maryland Sunrise Farm in Gambrills has not seen crop loss or problems due to stink bug infestation so far. Managers at the state’s largest parcel of certified organic land fight pests with alternative methods such as early harvesting.

“Because we are organic and don’t use chemicals, if we see a potential problem with a crop, we would do a cutting of the product or an immediate harvest to remove the food source from the pests,” said Marian Fry, a managing partner at the farm. “Last year stink bugs were less of a problem for us than some, but certainly it is a concern.”

Fry said she believes further research is paramount in discovering a solution to the growing threat.

“There is such intelligence in nature that we don’t know how to quantify," she said. "The systems in nature are very precise. Conditions have to be right for organisms to thrive. We don’t have all the pieces of the puzzle as to why they (stink bugs) are in one area and not in another. Identifying those factors is one of the keys to solving potential problems.”

Click here to read more about the local stink bug problem and what's being done about it.