2019 fall farm

2019 Logan County Farm Outlook Magazine Lincoln Daily News Nov. 1, 2019 Page 27 Putting obstacles in the way of pests Story by Derek Hurley and Photos by Jan Youngquist Continue 8 E very yearin the fields farmers have to deal with the continued presence of pests and disease held over from the year before. What makes this harder is the appearance of anything new that is popping up as well, leading to a struggle on two fronts. This year was especially challenging due to the late start of the growing season in Illinois. Fortunately, there is an entire industry and network of experts to draw on for advice on how to proceed. Eric Gordon, the plant manager at the Lincoln branch of Brandt, shared his own thoughts on the year farmers have had with regard to pests in the area. When asked about what sorts of pests and diseases he heard a lot about, Gordon spoke of weeds and foliar disease. “We have always fought weed pressure and some disease pressure in corn and beans. This year with the late season we seemed to fight weeds more than in the past. We also dealt with some late season foliar disease in corn that we typically don’t see as a problem, but with late growing season the diseases came in at their normal time, but the crop was not as mature as we are used to seeing,” said Gordon. Gordon is not the only one discussing weeds. University of Illinois researchers also warn about the presence of a certain weed in fields this year. Water hemp is described as “a broadleaf weed common to corn and soybean fields across the Midwest. With resistance to multiple common herbicides, water hemp is getting much harder to kill,” according to one report from Illinois Farmer Today .” Historically, about nine herbicides have been useful for fighting water hemp. Unfortunately, it seems that the weed is growing resistant to at least seven of those nine. “In some areas, we’re one or two mode of actions (MOAs) away from completely losing chemical control of water hemp and other multiple-herbicide-resistant weeds…And there are no new herbicide MOAs coming out. There haven’t been for 30 years,” says Illinois weed scientist Aaron Hager. “We don’t want to panic people, but farmers need to be aware this is real. It continues on with the challenges we’ve warned people about for years.”