By DEBORAH BEHRENDS
Illinois Correspondent DEKALB, Ill. — Farmers have long known the breeze carries crop-damaging bugs. Now a new website launched by Northern Illinois University tells agricultural producers in the Midwest which way the wind blows and when pests might be hitching a ride.
The agriculture weather site at www.agweather.niu.edu produces a daily Insect Migration Risk Forecast, geared for farmers, agricultural producers and entomologists. It was created and is maintained by NIU’s David Changnon, a professor of meteorology, and Mike Sandstrom, an NIU meteorologist and research associate.
“It’s a tool for people who need to know where the bugs are today and where they might be tomorrow,” Changnon said. “Farmers and others in the agricultural industry need to know just when insects might be migrating to their fields.”
The website states: With this site, we hope to achieve an enhanced dialogue between atmospheric scientists and agricultural leaders, with the result being greater understanding of growing season migration and improved pest management decisions.
Changnon said the site initially is focused on tracking the location and migration of corn earworm, a major pest of late-season sweet corn, but might be adapted in the future to track other insect migrations as well. Corn earworms migrate northward during the summer. If left uncontrolled, the pests can cause millions of dollars in damage to Midwestern corn crops in a single season.
The site was prompted by research Changnon and Sandstrom conducted in recent years with entomologist Brian Flood, manager of pest management for vegetables for Del Monte Foods, which provided support for the website development.
“Our forecasting can tell growers not only when and where pesticide treatments are necessary, but also if it is even necessary to spray,” Sandstrom says. “If weather conditions are not favorable for insect migration, there’s no sense spending the time and money involved with applying pesticides.
“Brian wanted something that would answer these questions. That’s how this website came about.”
The focus of this applied research covers the area from the High Plains east to the Appalachian Mountains and northward into southern Canada.
Strategic goals The website fulfills several strategic goals:
•To improve communication between atmospheric scientists and those with agricultural interest in the Midwest
•To work directly with agricultural decision makers to understand the complex and dynamic relationship between weather and agriculture
•To enhance use of weather forecast and climate information in day-to-day agricultural operations and long-term planning
•To develop and test value-added decision support tools
•To assess the use of weather and climate information by those with agricultural interests
•To be responsive to changing needs
•To provide educational materials related to ag-weather issues in the Midwest
Winds aid migration Corn earworms migrate as moths, carried by winds. Cold fronts and rain prompt the moths to drop to the fields.
“Part of our risk forecast identifies locations experiencing southerly wind and where the pests could drop out from the atmosphere, usually near a cold front or thunderstorm,” Changnon said.
The moths eventually lay eggs, which hatch into caterpillars that feed on the tips of ears of corn. Corn crops are susceptible to earworm during the silking phase.
“An earworm, if you don’t get it, will eat about 20 kernels of corn,” Flood said. “The ag-weather website provides a good predictive tool. Agriculture can’t be managed with historic weather maps alone. Growers have to be ahead of the game.”
NIU’s Analytical Center for Climate and Environmental Change provided funding for development of the website. Research scientists Phil Young and Rick Schwantes in the Department of Geography provided the technical expertise needed to assemble the site.
This farm news was published in the Aug. 8, 2007 issue of Farm World, serving Indiana, Ohio, Illinois, Kentucky, Michigan and Tennessee. |
