As the harvest season in Iowa winds down, farmers are starting to take stock in yields.

While there have been an assortment of crises this year that could have adversely affected yields, ISU Extension Field Agronomist Meaghan Anderson says pests have been particularly noteworthy. Early in the season there was an infestation of thistle caterpillars – which led to the influx of painted lady butterflies people likely remember – which Anderson says caused a great deal of defoliation in soybeans. Thankfully, she says soybeans are capable of handling that sort of thing relatively well and farmers were on top of treating their crops when the insects showed up, so she believes most of the crop survived.

Another pest that reared its head this year was northern corn rootworm. Anderson says while the insects weren’t widespread, they still caused problems by feeding on the roots and ears of corn. Finally, one pest Extension will be keeping a close eye on is the soybean gall midge – which is capable of decimating large sections of crops – mostly because entomologists are currently unsure how to combat the insects. Overall Anderson feels that while the pests caused a lot more work for farmers this year, she doesn’t believe they cut into many farmers’ livelihood. “In some isolated cases we definitely saw a reduced yield, as well as maybe reduced quality of the grain from those pests. But overall, hopefully we’ve kind of put this season to bed and we can start a little bit fresh next year for most of those pests anyway. Because a lot of them will come in from outside the state next spring again.”

To learn more about this and other topics currently facing Iowa farmers, click the link below to listen to the Perry Fareway Let’s Talk Dallas County program with Anderson.

https://www.raccoonvalleyradio.com/2019/11/20/lets-talk-dallas-county-11-20-2019-meaghan-anderson/