A pest in soybeans is starting to appear in the early stages of the growing season.

Landus Cooperative Field Agronomist Dan Bjorklund says he has discovered the cyst nematode re-appearing in soybeans crops already, and he believes its due to the oversaturated farm fields that have higher pH (potential for hydrogen) levels that don’t have enough iron in the soil. He explains the main reason why this pest is making a comeback that started late last year.

“What’s happened is that the main gene that we have used for all this time, in 90 percent of the varieties, they’ve (the cyst nematode) found a way to overcome that resistance.”  

Bjorklund notes that farmers should be on the lookout for this insect and developing a plan to try and correct this issue.

‘This year you’re scouting, finding out where these areas are and next year making the change.”  

Bjorklund adds that farmers should also be aware of a possible increase in different soybean leaf diseases, because of the increased rainfall in the early and late planting seasons.