Common insecticides are having less of an impact on potato beetles in recent years.

Potato beetle resistance on the rise

This long-standing challenge is growing as less response to foliar insecticides is being observed

Manitoba potato growers may need to get more comfortable with leaf damage. According to Tracy Shinners-Carnelley, vice-president of research and quality with Peak of the Market, growing insecticide resistance in Colorado potato beetles means it’s something they’ll likely see more of. Much like flea beetles in canola, potato producers are being urged to hold off

Mosquito control would be one of the few uses still allowed for chlorpyrifos under a proposal from Health Canada’s PMRA. (Tskstock/iStock/Getty Images)

Corteva to stop making Lorsban

Chicago | Reuters — Corteva will stop producing the agricultural pesticide chlorpyrifos by the end of the year, the company said on Thursday, removing the world’s largest manufacturer of a chemical that has been linked to low birth weight, reduced IQ and attention disorders in children. Corteva, spun off last year after a merger of


Common insecticides are having less of an impact on potato beetles in recent years.

Natural pest control still a challenge

Pest control in potatoes is caught between growing pressure to cut back on common chemical tools and concerns over chemical rotation, but do biopesticides factor into the path forward?

Potato biopesticides are still digging a niche in a sector beleaguered by chemical-resistance concerns, social pressure and the threat of regulatory crackdown on common chemistries. But their best fit might support, rather than replace, what growers are already doing in the field. The promise of biopesticides — drawn from naturally occurring substances that are unfriendly

A bull recovering from foot rot, which can be caused when cattle avoiding flies stand in water for long periods.

Fly bites a nuisance that can also lead to foot rot

Chemical controls and pasture rotation are options for control of stable flies

Fly problems are prevalent in some parts of North Dakota this year, North Dakota State University Extension livestock specialists warn. Horn, face and stable flies all are irritating to cattle, but stable flies have been particularly bothersome. “They will bite and irritate the animals on the legs and belly, and control of these pests is


(Arysta.cl)

UPL to buy crop chem firm Arysta

Indian chemical manufacturer UPL has raised the financial backing for an all-cash deal to become what’s expected to be the world’s fifth biggest crop chemical firm. UPL on July 20 announced it will pay $4.2 billion to buy 100 per cent of Arysta LifeScience — the maker of Everest and Inferno herbicides, among other products

Aphid numbers this year have been a fraction of what was seen in 2017.

Manitoba sees low aphid counts

Last year was a bad aphid year for a variety of crops, but few problems have been noted this season

Last year’s aphid problems have become this year’s near absence. Farmers are not fighting with aphids this year, according to the province, a departure from last year when levels prompted insecticide applications in a wide variety of crops from wheat to canary seed. “We’ve got lots of people out looking for aphids and, in most


Flea beetles are present in Manitoba canola fields every year, but this year’s infestation is worse than usual.

Worst year ever for flea beetles?

June 10 is the deadline for full crop insurance coverage in Canola Area 2

If you think flea beetles are worse this year, you’re not alone. “I haven’t done formal surveying, but I feel pretty confident in saying yes, it is absolutely worse this year,” Angela Brackenreed, the Canola Council of Canada’s eastern Manitoba agronomy specialist, said June 7. “From my personal experience, not that I am long in

The Elbe River at Oberrathen, southeast of Dresden. (CIA.gov)

Germany plans to toughen conditions for insecticide use

Berlin | Reuters — Germany plans to make it more difficult for farmers to use crop insecticides in a bid to preserve biodiversity, an environment ministry document showed. “Insect biomass has fallen by more than 75 per cent in the last 27 years in Germany,” according to the paper seen by Reuters on Wednesday, saying


VIDEO: Boldly spraying where no one’s sprayed before?

VIDEO: Boldly spraying where no one’s sprayed before?

ROGA Drone wants to swoop onto the crop spray market with an autonomous UAV

Started as a company in 2017, ROGA Drone is one of the new players in the UAV market, and Don Campbell believes there’s an untapped market in Western Canada for UAVs to spray insecticide. His flight plan? The Kray drone. The Kray drone is a fixed wing UAV using eight rotors to keep it airborne,

Bees and other beneficial insects could some day benefit from new pyrethroid pesticide research.

Spare the bees

New research may make for better-targeted pesticides that do their job but don’t hurt beneficial insects

Pyrethroid pesticides could be modified with a few molecular tweaks to eliminate pests while preserving beneficial insects like bees. Those are the findings of researchers at Michigan State University’s entomology department in a study featured in the current issue of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. These pesticides target a protein known as the