agriculture

It has been 20 years since Bt corn and cotton were put on the market, and we are now seeing signs that some of the Cry toxins in Bt crops are less effective than they once were. It is certain that fall armyworm is resistant to Cry1F in parts of the country (but not known to be resistant on the High Plains), and corn earworm/cotton bollworm is showing elevated levels of tolerance to several of the toxins in Bt cotton and corn. I want to make it perfectly clear that I am not suggesting we have resistance on the High Plains, but, given what is happening elsewhere in the country, I am saying that it would be prudent to begin watching our fields for elevated levels of damage from fall armyworm, corn earworm/cotton bollworm, southwestern corn borer and western bean cutworm. (This also goes for corn rootworm that is known to be resistant to at least one toxin in Bt corn.) On top of this we have the old world bollworm, Helicoverpa armigera , knocking on the southern door of the U.S.A., and i...

As we begin the summer season there are not any significant pest problems to report in corn and sorghum. Blayne Reed has reported treatable thrips levels on cotton in some fields in Hale and Swisher counties, and Katelyn Kowles is reporting lower levels in fields in Lubbock and Crosby counties. Regardless of the reports, all cotton should be scouted for thrips through the 5th true leaf stage. Foremost in our thoughts is when sugarcane aphid will colonize sorghum. We know the insect overwintered in Hale County and near Lamesa, and we found it on Johnsongrass in Lubbock County on May 3rd, but as yet it has not appeared on sorghum. The beneficial insect activity in wheat was higher than average this year (due to higher aphid numbers in wheat), and it is possible these beneficials found some or most of the early aphid colonies on Johnsongrass and provided suppression. However, the Hill Country and areas south of the High Plains do have aphids in significant numbers, and it is reasonable to...

Suhas Vyavhare and Blayne Reed,  Texas A&M AgriLife Extension It has been a very stop and go spring planting season for cotton in the Southern High Plains of Texas.  Here we are again, waiting for rain to end so we can resume cotton planting. From Plainview north, an area consisting of our usually more calendar date conscientious producers, about 70% of the cotton has been planted while only about 50% South of Plainview. Rainfall this week has added much needed topsoil moisture helping dryland fields greatly and planting conditions in general.   Cotton planting should continue through early June as fields dry out on many dryland acres from Lubbock south. For these �late� planted cotton fields we can generally state that early planted cotton can receive higher thrips pressure than later planted cotton. This is usually due to timing, or should we say the timing of area wheat drying down and becoming an unfavorable host for thrips as compared to the availability of favor...

There is still a lot of uncertainty about which crops to plant in parts of the southern High Plains of Texas. Cotton prices are down, sorghum faces a significant threat from sugarcane aphid, and corn requires more water than these other two crops. Many factors are involved in making planting decisions this year, and this article is strictly focused on the insect part of the equation, and the insect part is admittedly relatively minor as compared to available water, aphids and market prices. Given that our pest pressure from caterpillars like the fall armyworm and corn earworm goes up as the season progresses, and that we have a range of Bt corn technologies with respect to their price and ability to kill these pests, there is room to save money on the front end of the season. Ed Bynum, Extension Entomologist in Amarillo, and I are suggesting that early planted corn can be non-Bt or one of the older and less expensive Bt technologies that has fewer toxins. On the southern High Plains, f...

You can't listen to the national news without hearing stories of Zika virus, and it is proper that people exercise caution this summer. Last year's hordes of mosquitoes are still fresh in the minds of those of us who work in the field, and if the rains come again this year we will be in a similar situation. But even a few mosquitoes can be a bad thing when they have the potential to carry a serious virus. Mosquitoes on the front of a truck that left Plainview clean and arrived in Lubbock like this, spring, 2015. The Wall Street Journal recently ran a story about US-based insect repellent manufacturers adding shifts and running factories around the clock in expectation of exceedingly high demand in the southern USA this summer. This was a week before the news broke in an article in the New England Journal of Medicine that said the geographical ranges of two known mosquito vectors of Zika, Aedes albopictus and Aedes aegypti , may be much broader than originally thought.  A. aegy...

Suhas Vyavhare and Blayne Reed Texas A&M AgriLife Extension With the growing season just around the corner, farmers are busy preparing fields and making tough decisions for 2016. Cotton, the crop often known as �white gold,� looks to have some difficulty bringing major economic incentives to the farmers this year. Commodity prices have been below production costs for the last couple of years and future market moves, or lack thereof, are suggesting prices will be about the same this year. This means 2016 is going to be another challenging economic year for cotton growers. Despite this, surveys indicate increased cotton acreage in Texas in 2016. The increase in projected cotton acreage is largely the result of similar and weaker market prices of most of the usual alternative crops to cotton (corn, sorghum, wheat).   The looming threat of sugarcane aphid is also likely to prompt some sorghum producers to opt out of sorghum production.   There are some improved expectations f...

Bt transgenic corn with insect protection can be planted as an integrated seed blend in the Corn Belt, but has mandated block or strip non-Bt refuge requirements in the southern USA where cotton is grown. Depending on the type of Bt corn, the required refuge is from 20 - 50% of planted acres. This means that 20 - 50% of the crop is subject to damage and yield loss by the pests intended to be controlled by the Bt toxins, and it also means that growers must clean out and reset their planters to deliver non-Bt seed after planting the primary Bt crop. This takes time, and time is at a premium during planting season. When Bt corn is up for registration with EPA, the seed companies present an Insect Resistance Management (IRM) plan designed to slow down the development of resistance. Upon registration of the Bt technology, EPA mandates that the seed companies enforce the plan and provide annual evaluations of "compliance" by growers. When transgenic corn seed is sold, the companies...