News

Crop pests migrating into Midwest

There are increasing reports of crop pests migrating north into the Midwest.

Iowa State University Extension agronomist Angie Rieck-Hinz says there’s been significant black cutworm moth and true armyworm moth flights the past two weeks.

“They’re migratory (so) they fly up from the south (and) are attracted to the green growing areas, so weedy fields, cover crop fields, grassy areas, field edges, waterways, ditches.”

She tells Brownfield it’s too soon to know whether the insects will be a problem for growers.

“But we know that they’re here, we know that there’s a significant number of moth flights which seems really early for that this year. So I’d say by about the middle of May we’re really going to be wanting to scouting those fields because the crop is obviously going to be emerged.”

The coordinator of the Illinois Agricultural Pest Survey recently told Brownfield black cutworm moth flights could pose challenges to fields with cover crops in Illinois.