We are roughly a month away from the start of soybean planting and for those of you that have cover crops established we recommend that you terminate those cover crops 2 weeks before planting.

With wheat planting beginning, it is wise to consider two insect pest concerns for this fall crop: Hessian fly and aphids.

While reviewing some interesting material I received recently at the No-Till on the Plains Winter Conference in Salina, Kan., I came upon a Top 10 list — one that pertains to farming, not pop culture or show business.

DuPont Prevathon insect control powered by Rynaxypyr has received United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) registration for use on cereal crops, including wheat, most other small grains and sorghum. Prevathon was first registered in 2011 for use on cotton, corn, pasture and hay crops, including alfalfa. It provides control against lepidopteran worms, such as fall armyworm, true armyworm, corn earworm, sorghum webworm and loopers.

As farmers across the Corn Belt continue to battle above- and below-ground insect pests year after year, a comprehensive integrated pest management approach is key to maximizing yield potential, especially in corn-on-corn environments. Integrated pest management is about taking a comprehensive look at how you are managing yield-robbing pests in your field.

An upgraded online pest management program could help agricultural growers and consultants track insect populations to better control crop damage caused by pests and reduce the amount of insecticides released into the environment.

The two winter annual weed species producing the purple patches in no-till fields around the Midwest are henbit and purple deadnettle.

Syngenta announced that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has granted registration approval for the Agrisure Viptera 3220 trait stack, which offers corn growers dual modes of action against above-ground (lepidopteran) insect pests.

Widespread planting of genetically modified Bt corn in the upper Midwest has significantly reduced losses from European corn borer damage. Even growers that don’t plant transgenic corn have benefitted from neighboring use of these products.