Farmers have Web Help for Management of Pests

web help for managing pests

Mike SandstromFarmers, have you checked out https://www.insectforecast.com/ to check on the corn rootworm risk in Indiana? This week there is a high risk of corn rootworm in portions of the Corn Belt and meteorologist Mike Sandstrom says the 4-year old website, sponsored by Monsanto, is designed to continually update farmers at no cost.

“This is a really proactive tool for farmers to handle insect management issues. We look at forecasting at 1, 2, and 3-5 day intervals in advance so growers can understand better the potential for corn earworm, corn rootworm, and western bean cutworm pressure all across the Midwest.”
Sandstrom tells HAT many sources help create his daily updates.

“I look at numerous university and extension reports, trap reports from private sources, and also the internet, and then follow what Monsanto is seeing out in the fields. I tie in those reports with the weather forecasts and the predictions that I use and put those two things together to make a probabilistic forecast on a daily basis Monday through Friday.”

Luke Samuel-MonsantoLuke Samuel is the corn insect trait product development manager at Monsanto and he says farmers using the website are getting a great tool for understanding when pests may be affecting their crop.

“We’re really encourage growers to take a holistic view of pest management, and part of that is understanding what type of pests are out in your field today and then also using www.insectforecast.com to really understand when things may be happening in your geography so you can get out there and get a chance to take a peek at your fields, see when things are happening, and then that helps you think about different strategies for managing those pests for the next year.”

And Samuel says the best management practice for corn rootworm is rotating to soybeans. He has more recommendations in the HAT interview:Mike Sandstrom-Luke Samuel

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