URBANA, Ill. — Insect and crop pest survival could be greater than usual this spring following an unusually mild winter in the Midwest, according to a University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign professor and assistant dean from the Department of Crop Sciences.

“Insect survival of the following insects will likely be enhanced by mild winter conditions in the Midwest: corn flea beetles, bean leaf beetles and soybean aphids, to name a few,” said the U of I’s Michael E. Gray. “I have indicated to producers that they should scout carefully for soybean aphids this spring and summer. Egg survival on buckthorn could be quite good this winter.”

Gray added it’s important to break the group of insects into two categories.

“Some overwinter in the Midwest, others do not,” he said. “Consequently, those insects that overwinter in the Gulf Coast states, or even further south, will not be affected by our winter. Insects that migrate into Illinois each year include, but are not limited to, potato leafhoppers, corn leaf aphids, black cutworms, fall armyworms, corn earworms and green cloverworms, to name a few.”

The exceptionally mild winter of 2011-12 in the Midwest continued through January with temperatures averaging 30.5 degrees Fahrenheit statewide, almost six degrees warmer than usual, according to the USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service Illinois Field Office’s Illinois Weather and Crops report from Jan. 30.

As of Feb. 10, statewide temperatures were approximately 6.6 degrees above normal for the year, said Jim Angel, state climatologist for the Illinois Water Survey.

“December and January were the sixth-warmest on record. It’s been an unusually warm winter,” he said. “I have seen ground with the top inch or so frozen, but for the most part the ground has remained unfrozen throughout much of the winter season.”

Rainfall that has occurred this winter, after a nearly-historic dry summer throughout much of Illinois and the Midwest in 2011, seems to have made up for a lack of soil moisture usually provided by snowfall this time of year, Angel added.

“As far as soil moisture, I think we’re in pretty good shape,” he said. “Since the grounds are not frozen, most of the (precipitation) has soaked in to recharge the soil moisture after the dry summer we had.”

The Illinois Water Survey monitors 18 sites throughout the state in order to record soil moisture levels. “All of those are showing a nice recovery of the soil moisture. They are about at the levels you would hope for this time of year,” reported Angel, adding some fields he has seen in eastern Illinois remain waterlogged. “Over there, they have maybe a little too much soil moisture for right now.”

The forecast through April from the National Weather Service calls for a continuation of above-normal temperatures and above-normal precipitation in Illinois.

“It’s basically a repeat of the forecast we’ve had the last couple of months or so,” said Angel. “But there is always the opportunity for a few days of real winter weather with below-freezing temperatures and snow. It’s too early to write off winter yet.”

The Weather and Crops report noted “the mild temperatures have left the winter wheat crop rated mostly good and had little effect on livestock.” Jim Kaitschuk, executive director of the Illinois Pork Producers Assoc., said the mild winter’s effects on livestock include lower production cost implications for producers.

“LP (propane) costs haven’t been nearly as high because you haven’t had to heat the barns like you normally would. Producers’ costs have been down this winter on the heating side,” Kaitschuk said. “And from what I’ve been told, the growth rate for animals has been pretty rapid. There have been no inabilities for feed trucks to get to barns, so things have really run smoothly all the way through the process.”

Angel credits the smooth winter (thus far) to a “mild La Nina” weather pattern, as opposed to last year’s “very strong” La Nina phenomenon that “kept dumping snow on us.” He predicts the 2012 La Nina will fade away in the next month or so.

“It’s not going to be a major player in this growing season, as it was the last year or two,” Angel said.