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 and through 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.
Minnesota soybean farmers continue to face new and emerging pests. This survey expands our ability to obtain field reports on crop conditions and pest activity to tailor outreach to crop managers. With soybean gall midge confirmed in 2020 in Traverse County and an additional 13 counties added to its range in 2021, understanding the range of this devastating pest is critical. This survey will also work to determine whether a particular disease provides management challenges that warrant additional study or educational outreach. Sudden death syndrome (SDS) of soybean was found in southeast ND in 2018, but in 2020 was found in Cavalier County near the Canadian Border. There is no reason why SDS fungus would be unable to survive to cause significant yield loss in northern Minnesota. It is in the best interest of producers and soybean breeders to have vital information regarding the range of this and other soybean diseases as soon as possible.

1) 2022 Western Minnesota Soybean IPM Survey & Ag Student Training Program. (PI: A. Peltier, A. Hanson & J. Goplen)
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.
iii) Collect information regarding soybean disease incidence in surveyed fields.

The Minnesota Soybean Research and Promotion Council-sponsored IPM Survey was funded and conducted for the first time in 2015. UMN Extension would like to continue this project in 2022. The expected outcomes of the survey are timely alerts for crop managers to assist them in making sound and economic management decisions. In addition, this project is coordinated with similar efforts in North Dakota. All survey maps can be found at the NDSU IPM website (https://www.ag.ndsu.edu/ndipm) and these maps and past commentary can be found at the Cropping Issues in Northwest Minnesota on-line newsletter (http://nw-minnesota-crops.blogspot.com/). A summary report of the 2021 survey was uploaded along with this proposal.
UMN Extension would like to continue the IPM soybean survey initiative in 2022 and proposes the hiring of three (3) summer interns. They will work out of Crookston, Moorhead and Morris conducting pest and disease surveys in commercial soybean fields. Having dedicated people in the field facilitates collection of data, pests and plant material when needed. The program would be responsive to rapid developments. To leverage multiple funding sources and provide a more attractive summer experience to aid in recruitment and expertise in practical field identification skills, funding for the early-season efforts of these three interns has also been sought from the Minnesota Wheat Research and Promotion Council.

This project will deliver real-time in-season information regarding the incidence and severity of pest populations and disease pressure 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 blog and newsletter articles and 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 Minnesota private pesticide applicators recertification workshops.

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Please see attached PDF progress report

View uploaded report

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View uploaded report

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View uploaded report

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View uploaded report

View uploaded report 2

Update:

View uploaded report

View uploaded report 2

2022 Program.
Eight years since the soybean IPM survey began in 2015, the 2022 survey took place primarily in counties in northwestern Minnesota due to significant staffing issues detailed in the full 4th quarter report. Consequently, a single NDSU ag student working as a scout visited 108 soybean fields over 34 scouting days between June 27 and August 18; scouting time was shared between scouting wheat and soybean in her first week of scouting soybean. In each field the scout growth staged the crop, swept field edges for grasshoppers, Similar to in previous years, the Minnesota team collaborated with the NDSU Extension IPM program to produce bistate pest maps that were used for in-person Extension programs and in print (Figure 1; Soybean aphid incidence (%), Aug 8-19, 2022; map url: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1tMDUdn6XEmBKapTr-PMaEmJ_sfFG454t/view?usp=sharing).

Extension efforts funded by IPM Survey.
Four in-season online IPM articles related to this survey were each distributed via MN Crop News to 3,146 people and one online IPM article related to the survey was distributed via Cropping Issues in NW MN to 718 people, for a combined 1,949 page views. Two live Strategic Farming: Field Notes sessions covered IPM-related topics, including IDC on July 6 (55 webinar attendees, 59 podcast downloads) and late season insects on July 27 (61 webinar attendees, 53 podcast downloads). The Strategic Farming: Let’s Talk Crops program covered new and emerging soybean pests on Mar 22, 2023 with a total of 109 people attending live and 92 folk viewing the video on YouTube. In-person programs included the July 20 & 21 UMN Field School (St. Paul, MN, ~60 participants), Farmfest (Redwood Falls, MN, booth, ~300 people), Dec 8 Prairie Grains Conference (Grand Forks, ND, ~65 attendees), Jan 16, 30 and Feb 3 Small Grains Update programs (Morris, MN, 15 participants; McIntosh, MN, 25 participants; Roseau, MN, 21 participants, respectively) and Feb 8 & 9 Best of the Best Conferences (Grand Forks, ND, 170 participants; Moorhead, MN, 132 participants, respectively). Eight radio programs at KROX (Crookston) and KTRF (Thief River Falls) covered the survey, scouting, and IPM-related issues: May 26, June 16 & July 28 at both KTRF and KROX, Aug 18 (KTRF) and Aug 26 (KROX). Print summary report of survey was distributed at Prairie Grains Conference and at joint MSRPC & MWRPC-sponsored Small Grains Update programs in the Red River Valley.

Leveraged funding.
This survey has historically leveraged other sources of funding to both provide a full-season, multiple-crop summer experience and to cover the costs of the scouting program. In 2022, similar to past years the Minnesota Wheat Research & Promotion Council (MWRPC) funded the primarily wheat portion of the scout’s salary and fringe vehicle rental and mileage costs. The 2023 IPM survey will also be covered by Minnesota Soybean Research & Promotion Council and MWRPC, and the Minnesota Rapid Agricultural Response Fund will also contribute to the scouting effort to determine the geographic range of the newest soybean pest in Minnesota – the soybean tentiform leafminer.

This project will have scouts on the ground feeding data to the primary investigators on this project. When an economically important soybean pest or disease issue is encountered, Extension’s network of contacts at radio stations, digital newsletter mailing lists (MN Crop News & Cropping Issues in Northwest Minnesota) 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 working to assist soybean producers in managing economically important soybean pests and diseases. These interns will be able to ‘hit the ground running’ in future internships or as they seek permanent employment after graduation.