Cropping Issues in Northwest Minnesota

Traveling throughout Kittson, Mahnomen, Marshall, Norman, Pennington, Polk, Red Lake and Roseau Counties in northwest Minnesota this week to survey soybeans, revealed various pest and disease issues.  Soybean aphid.  Figure 1. Soybean aphid. Courtesy of: Christina DiFonzo, Michigan State University, Bugwood.org. Soybean aphid ( Figure 1 ) population densities remain either undetectable or very low, with most plants housing fewer than 20 aphids. With so few soybean aphids present, I was also unable to find Asian lady beetles or their larvae or aphid “mummies” that had been parasitized by the Asian parasitic wasp, two of the many insects that provide biological control of the soybean aphid . Spider mites.  Two-spotted spider mites were widespread throughout the lower and middle canopies at all except northernmost locations. One may notice that infested leaflets have a duller appearance than those that aren’t infested due to the dull-yellow ‘stippling’ symptoms characteristi...

COVID-19 = Monkey wrench COVID-19 threw a monkey wrench into the gears of the annual Northwest Research & Outreach Center's (NWROC) Crops & Soils Day program.  Rather than risk having this day meant for education and networking become some sort of COVID-19 super-spreader event, Extension and College of Food, Agricultural and Natural Resource Sciences (CFANS) personnel and the NWROC's director Dr. Albert Sims decided to bring the program online. Short videos summarizing research projects CFANS and Extension faculty members from both the NWROC and the St. Paul campus were captured on video discussing some of their 2020 research projects, what they hope to learn and how the projects will provide value to crop producers in northwest Minnesota and beyond. These videos are hosted on the NWROC website .  There are 10 videos total and individual topics and speakers include: Conservation Drainage Research: Lindsay Pease, NWROC Management of Rhizoctonia in Sugarbeet - Ashok Chan...