The first week of June is an exciting one for University of Minnesota Extension in northwest Minnesota as the summer 2019 crop scouting began in earnest.
Small grains scouting.
Extension personnel at North Dakota State University and University of Minnesota are teaming up to monitor small grains. In Minnesota this scouting effort is sponsored by your check-off funds through the Wheat Research and Promotion Council. The information gathered will help UMN Extension small grains agronomy specialist Dr. Jochum Wiersma and Extension educator Jared Goplen to provide timely updates regarding emerging diseases and pests issues in northwest and west-central Minnesota.
Soybean scouting.
Extension personnel on both sides of the Red River are also teaming up to monitor soybean. The scouting effort in Minnesota is sponsored by check-off funds through the Soybean Research and Promotion Council. Of particular interest is monitoring soybean aphid population densities. In 2016 and
2017 the results of this scouting program let the program’s now retired coordinator Dr. Phillip Glogoza quickly alert producers that some populations of soybean aphid in the northern Red River Valley (RRV) were no longer being effectively managed with insecticides in the pyrethroid class. The
program helped him in 2018 to let producers know that an insecticide application was unlikely to be economical as aphid populations in northern RRV fields never reached treatment thresholds. The 2019 scouting program is continuing with Extension educators Angie Peltier and Jared Goplen providing weekly reports.
Scouts.
In preparation for the 2019 scouting season, on May 30 UMN Extension scouts Hunter Mathias and Oliver Berglund traveled to NDSU’s Research and Extension Center in Carrington for training. This summer Hunter will be stationed in Moorhead and Oliver in Crookston. During your travels this summer you may encounter Hunter or Oliver and here is some autobiographical information that they provided to introduce themselves to NW MN.
Hunter
My name is Hunter Mathias and I’m going into my Junior year at NDSU for crop and weed sciences. I was born and raised in Fargo, ND and have a large farming background on both sides of my family. I have worked for the University of Minnesota for the past 2 summers tending to research plots as well as scouting for soybean aphids. I also have experience in assessing both alfalfa weevil damage and lodging due to wheat stem sawfly. I am very grateful for both the opportunities the University of Minnesota has offered me and the knowledge I have gained in the past years.
Oliver
My name is Oliver Berglund and I am a student as University of Minnesota Crookston where I transferred to study agronomy. My college experience began at Colorado State University in Fort Collins, CO where I soon found out that chemical engineering was not for me. I am originally from the town of Mound, MN and graduated from Mound Westonka High School in 2014. I enjoy outdoor activities like camping and hiking, as well as skiing in the winter. I am excited to be working with the U of M Extension this summer and I am looking forward to all of the new things I will learn through this internship.
My name is Oliver Berglund and I am a student as University of Minnesota Crookston where I transferred to study agronomy. My college experience began at Colorado State University in Fort Collins, CO where I soon found out that chemical engineering was not for me. I am originally from the town of Mound, MN and graduated from Mound Westonka High School in 2014. I enjoy outdoor activities like camping and hiking, as well as skiing in the winter. I am excited to be working with the U of M Extension this summer and I am looking forward to all of the new things I will learn through this internship.
