Insects

Iowa Farmer Battles Today's Pests While Eyeing Tomorrow's 'Mean Sixteen' Threats

Fri, 12 Dec 2025 19:31:41 GMT

For Worth County, Iowa, farmer Sarah Tweeten, the list of high-priority agronomic threats isn’t a political abstract — it’s a harsh reality she deals with every season.

Farming with her parents, Brian and Julie, and her uncle Roger, Tweeten has been steering the partnership toward more resilient cropping practices since joining the operation in 2021. This includes shifting from conventional tillage to strip tillage and splitting nitrogen applications.

The changes are part of a broader mindset: Protecting yields today from weeds, disease and insects while aggressively preparing for the next generation of agronomic threats. This forward-thinking approach is what led Tweeten to Washington, D.C., earlier this week as a Farm Journal Foundation farmer ambassador to help introduce a new report: “ The Mean Sixteen: Major Biosecurity Threats Facing U.S. Agriculture and How Policy Solutions Can Help. ”

Today’s Battles and Tomorrow’s Warnings
Researched and developed by Stephanie Mercier, PhD, the report takes an in-depth look at 16 significant pest issues U.S. farmers face now or could realistically in the future.

Tweeten is already battling a couple of the problems that underpin the urgency behind the research. For example, Palmer amaranth (pigweed) is gaining ground in her fields and across Iowa. The pervasive broadleaf weed can drastically reduce yields, with studies showing corn yield reductions between 11% and 91% and soybean yield reductions of 17% to 68%.

“We’ve struggled with pigweed as it continues to establish more resistance to our herbicides in our toolkit,” Tweeten says.

Two additional agronomic issues the report details include:

1. Asian Soybean Rust. First detected in the U.S. in Louisiana in 2004, this fungal disease has spread to southern states like Georgia and Mississippi. Scientists warn that warming winters could enable its migration to the Midwest, adding to existing disease pressures.

2. Corn Ear Rot. It can lead to aflatoxin production, making corn unmarketable and posing risks to humans and livestock. Aflatoxin is an issue Pickens County, Ala., farmer Annie Dee says is an ongoing problem for corn growers in her area.

“If we have aflatoxin, it can be impossible to sell the corn,” says Dee, also a Farm Journal Foundation Farmer ambassador.

A more recent threat she references is the impact of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (bird flu) on local poultry farms.

Since January 2022, HPAI has been confirmed in a commercial or backyard poultry flock in all 50 states.

(USDA)

“An important market for us is poultry feed meal, so that’s a constant worry. The trickle-down effect is if we can’t move our corn then we can’t meet our financial obligations,” Dee adds.

Despite agricultural R&D offering a high ROI — $20 in benefits for every $1 spent — the Farm Journal Foundation report notes public funding for ag research has been declining over the past two decades.

“Farmers urgently need sustained support for aflatoxin research and prevention because these risks threaten our yields, our markets and the trust consumers place in American agriculture,” Dee says.

U.S. public spending on ag research and development has been falling for two decades.

(USDA-ERS)

African Swine Fever Has ‘Devastating Potential’
Looking to the future, Tweeten says she is concerned about African swine fever (ASF) and its potential to impact crop farmers as well as hog producers. The highly contagious swine disease hasn’t been detected in the U.S. mainland, but it isn’t far away. ASF has been confirmed in the Caribbean countries of Haiti and the Dominican Republic, roughly 700 miles from Miami, Fla.

“Being a farmer from Iowa, where we have probably eight times the amount of pigs as we do people, an outbreak of ASF would be just devastating to our state,” Tweeten says.

Hogs are among the biggest customers for the corn and soybeans Tweeten and her family grow. If African swine fever were to shut down hog production or exports, it wouldn’t just be a blow to livestock producers – it would hurt the entire agricultural community, she contends.

Read about 5 livestock diseases that could impact U.S. food security and economic stability.

Food Security Is National Security
When it comes to justifying funding for ag research, Tweeten knows there’s competition for every federal dollar. But she believes agriculture deserves a front-row seat — not only because of its economic weight and impact on farmers, but because of its role in national security.

“There’s that argument that food security is national security,” she says. “If there’s one thing COVID made us aware of, it’s that a disruption to our food chain can be terrifying, quite frankly.”

The pandemic made consumers and policymakers more aware of supply chain vulnerability. In 2020, the shock to the supply chain came from a human disease and logistical bottlenecks.

(Sarah Williams Photography)

Next time, Tweeten says, the disruption could just as easily come from animal or plant disease — whether African swine fever in hogs, Asian soybean rust or some other pathogen in crops. She worries about scenarios where farmers could face a fast-moving disease or crop pest while critical tools are still hung up in regulatory delays.

Her message: Farmers need a full toolbox, not one that’s half-built by the time a threat arrives.

“Ag needs to be in a good position when these sorts of emerging diseases and pests come into the country,” she says, “to have the tools in our toolbox ready for farmers to pull out.”

About the Farm Journal Foundation
The Farm Journal Foundation is a farmer-centered, non-profit, nonpartisan organization established in 2010. It works to advance agricultural innovation, food and nutrition security, conservation, and rural economic development.

Crickets Galore! Why the Mass Accumulation Isn't That Weird After All

Thu, 18 Sep 2025 17:58:19 GMT

If you’re seeing more crickets than normal this year, don’t worry. Experts say cricket swarms — thousands of field crickets assembling in one location — may be annoying, but they pass with time.

Wizzie Brown, Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service integrated pest management specialist, says the annual phenomenon can be startling, but it’s nothing to fear and only temporary.

“These swarms happen every late summer and fall to some degree,” she said in a release . “The crickets don’t sting or bite, so they’re not doing anything other than being annoying, especially if a male gets in your house and is chirping to attract females.”

Cricket Coincidence
When and where cricket swarms pop up are random, Brown adds. One year you may see incredibly high cricket numbers and the next two years you don’t. The cause of these mass accumulations of field crickets isn’t so random, however.

The cricket cycle is spurred on by cool fronts, because crickets don’t like heat. They hatch in early spring, reach adulthood in three months and, by the heat of summer, are looking for places to stay cool, she explains.

They forage on dead insects and vegetation at night and keep a relatively low profile during the heat of the day. Cool fronts in the waning weeks of summer and early fall change that, Brown says.

They also like to swarm to the light. Buildings with bright, dusk-to-dawn lighting attract them.

“You’ll notice they tend to congregate around the front doors of businesses — at gas stations, car dealerships and other businesses and locations that have highly luminous lighting that is on all night,” Brown says. “If you’ve noticed crickets around your house, it’s probably in relation to lighting.”

Seasonal Swarms
If the numbers of crickets seem outlandish, Brown notes there can be multiple generations of crickets in a year, especially in warmer regions. Warm winters can also contribute to the number of cricket generations per year.

Like most insects, field crickets’ numbers rise, peak and fall seasonally. The window for crickets to gather in mass typically lasts four to six weeks before their numbers begin to decline, she says.

Turning off unnecessary lights can reduce the chance crickets will swarm around your home or business. There are also specialty bulbs that are less attractive to insects.

“Attracting crickets can lead to them getting inside structures and homes, especially with poor sealing around doors and windows,” Brown says. “A bunch of dead crickets can be a stinky mess, so it’s smart to leave the lights off as much as possible as that summer-to-fall transition happens.”

West Nile Virus Activity Spikes to 20-Year High in the Midwest

Thu, 14 Aug 2025 22:08:01 GMT

Scouting cornfields now might net you a different problem than the insects you might have anticipated encountering. An Iowa State University researcher says there are “very high levels” of West Nile virus (WNV) trending in Iowa and other Midwestern states currently.

“This week had the highest observed WNV activity at this point in the summer observed in over 20 years. This trend is of serious concern for the next eight weeks when WNV transmission risks are the highest,” writes Erin Hodgson , ISU Extension entomologist specialist.

To date in 2025, there have been 219 cases of WNV reported in 29 states. In 2024, there was a total of 1,466 cases of WNV reported in the U.S., according to Vector Disease Control International.

In Iowa, data is generated from ongoing mosquito surveillance efforts coordinated by Ryan Smith, ISU associate professor and entomologist. Smith has implemented an interdisciplinary approach to examine mosquito immunity and mosquito-borne disease transmission.

Leading Cause Of Mosquito-Borne Disease
West Nile virus is transmitted through the bite of a Culex mosquito, commonly called a house mosquito. It typically picks up the virus by feeding on an infected bird. West Nile virus is the leading cause of mosquito-borne disease in the continental United States.

In general, people do not spread the infection.

There are no vaccines to prevent or medicines to treat West Nile in people. Fortunately, most people infected with the virus do not feel sick, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). About 20% of people who contract the disease will experience mild symptoms like fever, headache, and body aches.

In a small percentage of cases, the virus can cause serious neuroinvasive disease issues, such as encephalitis or meningitis, which can be severe and even fatal, the CDC reports.

People older than 60 and those with weakened immune systems are at highest risk for severe illness.

The CDC offers an interactive site where you can view and track the total number of human infections of WNV reported on a county-by-county basis. See current results in your county here .

Implement The Three Rs
To prevent mosquito bites, the CDC encourages people to practice the ‘Three Rs’:

REDUCE - make sure doors and windows have tight-fitting screens. Repair or replace screens that have tears or other openings. Try to keep doors and windows shut. Eliminate, or refresh each week, all sources of standing water where mosquitoes can breed, including water in bird baths, ponds, flowerpots, wading pools, old tires, and any other containers.

REPEL - when outdoors, wear shoes and socks, long pants and a light-colored, long-sleeved shirt, and apply an EPA-registered insect repellent that contains DEET, picaridin, oil of lemon eucalyptus, IR 3535, para-menthane-diol (PMD), or 2-undecanone according to label instructions. Consult a physician before using repellents on infants.

REPORT – report locations where you see water sitting stagnant for more than a week such as roadside ditches, flooded yards, and similar locations that may produce mosquitoes. Your local health department or city government may be able to add larvicide to the water, which will kill any mosquito larvae.

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Robot Bees? Check Out This New Pollination Innovation

Mon, 27 Jan 2025 19:25:56 GMT

Scientists from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have developed advanced robotic insects that could aid farming through artificial pollination. They could prove especially useful in the controlled indoor environments of high-tech ‘vertical farms’.

“These type of robots will open up a very new type of use case,” co-lead author Suhan Kim, from the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS), told Reuters.

“For instance, we can think of artificial pollination. So since our robot looks like an insect, and it’s real lightweight and small, if you can really precisely control the robot we might be able to do something on top of flowers or leaves, which really requires very delicate interactions.”

The robots, each lighter than a paperclip, can hover for approximately 1,000 seconds, over 100 times longer than previous models. They are also capable of performing high-speed acrobatic maneuvers, including double aerial flips.

The new design halves the size of the team’s earlier model, with increased stability while also freeing up space for electronics.

“We want the robot to be able to have a [circuit] board, battery and the sensors on board. So to do that, we need much higher payload than now. So what we’re currently pushing very hard right now is to optimize the robot design to be able to lift more and more so that we can afford these potential payloads,” said Kim.

Long term, the team hope this will enable autonomous flight outside the lab. This technology could significantly boost crop yields in multi-level warehouses by providing a more efficient method for artificial pollination.

Vertical farming, the name given to the production of crops in a series of stacked levels, often in a controlled environment, is a fast-growing industry with billions of dollars being pumped into projects across the globe.

It is seen as part of the solution to the food security challenge posed by population expansion at a time when climate change and geopolitics threaten supply.

“This doesn’t really mean that we want to entirely replace honeybees in nature, but what we sometimes hear from the people in the relevant field is that there are really good cases where we can’t rely on honeybees anymore, such as like indoor farming, where we can’t really have honeybee homes in it because of safety issues or some environmental issues. So in that case, we can start thinking of using our robot, if it works well, for tools like indoor farming,” added Kim.

Despite the team’s improvements, the robotic insects still cannot match the capabilities of natural pollinators. However, the researchers aim to improve the robots’ flight time and precision to enable them to land and take off from the center of a flower.

The research was published in the journal Science Robotics.

New World Screwworm: Latest Update from USDA-APHIS

On Nov. 25, USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) held a meeting to discuss the U.S. response to the news of a single case of New World Screwworm (NWS) found in a cow in Chiapas, Mexico. U.S. and Mexican officials are working closely together, but the border has been temporarily closed to live cattle imports.

“Our priority is to ensure there is no risk to our domestic industry, followed by the goal of reopening the border as soon as possible,” says Dr. Michael Watson, administrator of USDA’s APHIS.

In September, work had already begun on protocols in the event NWS was found in Mexico. Those protocols have been reviewed with Mexico for their understanding and will be made public once finalized.

Points of Protocol
Dr. Burke Healey, senior leader for policy and operations for APHIS, shared protocol will likely include pre-export inspections by Mexican veterinarians overseen by SENASICA, the equivalent to APHIS, before allowing cattle imports to resume. The inspections will make sure:

appropriate logs accompany animals coming into and leaving the facility
cattle are treated with ivermectin
there’s a seven-day quarantine period

Upon passing inspection, cattle will again be inspected by U.S. officials, along with additional inspections for tuberculosis and ticks. The cattle will be dipped, and then presented to cross the border. Healey says federal inspection sites will focus on ports in Chihuahua and Sonora.

“Those five ports are on the Mexican side, so those inspections and all of that protocol are taking place in Mexico and not on U.S. soil,” he explains.

The ports in Texas will be considered for reopening once the protocol details have been finalized and are working as expected, he adds.

Cristobal Zepeda, regional manager for North America for APHIS, says U.S. and Mexican officials maintain a close working relationship and that communication is key in this situation. Mexico had previously instituted three federal inspection points at strategic locations where cattle come into the country near the border with Guatemala and other areas.

“All animals are downloaded and inspected for wounds visually and through detector dogs,” Zepeda says. “They’re sprayed with an insecticide and receive ivermectin. The system works. That’s how it was picked up.”

Mexico has not completed its investigation but acknowledges the infested cow might have been imported from Guatemala.

While the timeline for reopening trade is tentatively estimated to be at least three weeks, it quite possibly could extend into January as Mexico typically closes ports for two weeks during Christmas and New Year’s, Healey says.

Control the Spread
The discussion also covered the potential impact on the livestock industry, which could be in the billions if NWS reaches the U.S., and the importance of sterile fly production.

The U.S. imports 1 million to 1.1 million cattle from Mexico annually. All Mexican cattle are required to have a Mexican origin ear tag and documentation of the herd of origin, TB test of that herd of origin and a TB test of the specific animals being presented for export. These requirements will remain in place.

Sterile flies from a Panama facility will be sent to Mexico to help control the spread of NWS further south and into Central America. Capacity from that facility is around 95 million per week. Mexico is also looking at retrofitting fruit fly plants to produce about 60 million sterile files a week.

The APHIS website will provide NWS updates .

Be On the Lookout
Adult screwworm flies are about the size of a common housefly (or slightly larger). They have orange eyes, a metallic blue or green body, and three dark stripes along their backs.

If you see mammals and birds with the following signs, report them to your state veterinarian:

Irritated behavior
Head shaking
Smell of decay
Evidence of fly strike
Presence of fly larvae (maggots) in wounds

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