The Western Minnesota Soybean IPM Survey expands our ability to obtain field reports on crop conditions and pest activity to tailor educational outreach to crop managers through radio, digital newsletters, podcasts, webinars and print in the ag press. Should something for which additional information is needed in-person, the primary investigators will partner with company-sponsored plot tour events to provide education regarding new or emerging pest and disease issues. The goal is to provide information regarding pest and disease pressure to producers to assist them in making economical pest management decisions.
With the invasive soybean gall midge confirmed in 25 Minnesota counties since 2020 and the soybean tentiform leafminer that was found colonizing soybeans for the first time in the US in southeast Minnesota in 2021, understanding the range of and injury caused by these pests is critical. It was through this survey that the number of infested counties infested with soybean tentiform leafminer expanded to include Douglas and Marshall. In 2023, multiple insect pests or insect and arachnid pests were found infesting plants at the same time. Without having “boots in the field” trained to look for both current and invasive pests, Minnesota soybean producers would not be alerted to potential current or emerging management challenges.
For example: Pyrethroid insecticide-resistant soybean aphids were first observed through this survey. In 2023, threshold-level soybean aphids and two-spotted spider mites were present concurrently. Selecting active ingredients that could manage both became more complicated with the losses of both pyrethroids and chlorpyrifos. Neonicotinoid insecticides were also off the table as they tend to flare spider mites. Multiple webinars/podcasts, radio interviews and articles covered how best to scout for and manage these multi-species infestations that we were alerted to through the survey.

2024 Western Minnesota Soybean IPM Survey. (PI: A. Peltier & A. Hanson)
a) Conduct field surveys to report soybean crop stage and pest conditions in NW and WC MN.
i) Partner with the NDSU IPM program in conducting and reporting field and pest conditions across a region that includes NW and WC MN and eastern ND.
ii) Deliver timely crop updates based on field observations with an emphasis on soybean aphid, two-spotted spider mite and other crop pest conditions as they develop.

This project will deliver real-time, in-season information regarding the incidence and severity of pest populations in soybean fields in western Minnesota through the development of data summaries and the presentation of maps of data from recent survey findings. This information will be shared through multiple means to reach western Minnesota soybean producers, including through online webinars, podcasts, blog and newsletter articles distributed through email list-servs, ag radio programs and press releases sent to print media venues.
Pests and diseases of note will also be shared during the winter meetings season at county soybean and corn growers association meetings, at the Prairie Grains Conference soybean research reporting session, the Norman County Crops Show, through the print publication, “On-farm Cropping Trials Northwest & West Central Minnesota and Minnesota Wheat Research Review” distributed to farmers and ag service providers at the Prairie Grains Conference, and at the six Small Grains Update meetings in northwest Minnesota.

This project will have scouts on the ground feeding data to the primary investigators on this project. When an economically important soybean pest issue is encountered, Extension’s network of contacts at radio stations, digital newsletter mailing lists (MN Crop News & Cropping Issues in Northwest Minnesota), webinars, podcasts and print media can get this vital and timely information quickly to the soybean producers whose check-off dollars have been invested for this purpose.
An agricultural workforce with practical, on-the-ground, and hands-on experience is a critical ingredient for service providers to be effective. Another benefit to the soybean producers funding this project will be three experienced crop scouts that can ‘hit the ground running’, working to assist soybean producers in managing economically important soybean pests and diseases.