From the late 1940s, chlordane had been the insecticide of choice to control them, but when chlordane was banned by the U.S. EPA in the 1970s, ranchers were left with no economic and effective control method. Especially to aid Florida ranchers, a project that became known as the UF/IFAS Mole Cricket Research Program was initiated in 1978. In 1985, a multiple-authored report was published on accomplishments. In 1988, an account was published on prospects for biological control, and in 1996 an account of promising results with biological control. The program ended in 2004 after 25 years of running monitoring stations, and in 2006 a summary publication announced success: a 95% reduction in mole cricket numbers in northern Florida, with biological control agents spreading potentially to all parts of Florida. Efforts to use Larra bicolor as a biological control agent in Florida began by importing a stock from Puerto Rico. It became established in a small area of southeastern Florida, but had little effect on Neoscapteriscus populations. A stock from Bolivia became established in northern Florida and spread widely (with some help) to most of the rest of the state and neighboring states. Its survival depends upon the availability of suitable nectar sources. Once gravid female Ormia depleta flies were found to be attracted to the song of Neoscapteriscus males in South America, a path to trap these flies with synthetic mole cricket songs was opened. Experimentation then led to a rearing method. Laborious rearing of over 10,000 flies on mole cricket hosts allowed releases of living fly pupae at many sites in Florida from the far northwest to the far south, mainly on golf courses, and mainly in 1989-1991. Populations were established, began to spread, and were monitored by use of synthetic mole cricket song. Eventually, the flies were found to have a continuous population from about 29°N then south to Miami, but the flies failed to survive the winter north of about 29°N. Shipment and release of the flies to states north of Florida was thus a wasted effort. As the flies had been imported from 23°S in Brazil and could not overwinter north of 29°N, whether flies from 30°S in Brazil might survive better in northern Florida was investigated in 1999, but they did not. The third biological control agent to target Neoscapteriscus in Florida was the South American nematode Steinernema scapterisci. Small-scale releases proved it could persist