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While you’ll almost inevitably deal with pest pressures at some point this season, proactively preparing for these issues by strategically factoring crop protection into your operation can help reduce potential yield impacts.
In addition to covering your operation with a crop insurance policy, there are a few other ways you can anticipate and address pest impacts.
Generally environmentally based, there are a number of factors to consider, including:
Weather patterns during the summer and winter
Historic pressure
Temperature
Moisture
Crop rotation
READ: Mid-Season Insect Watch - European Corn Borer and Western Bean Cutworm
Many farmers strategically plan for pests using an approach called Integrated Pest Management (IPM), a holistic crop protection method that employs a three-pronged approach to address pests while minimizing negative environmental impacts.
Developing an IPM plan involves several steps, including:
Identifying the pests present
Monitoring pest populations
Setting action thresholds
Implementing control measures
Evaluating plan effectiveness
A strong Integrated Pest Management plan includes strategies from the following three areas:
Think of biological control as pitting pests against their own natural enemies such as parasites, predators, or pathogens to help limit pest populations and subsequent crop damage. This control approach involves using natural enemies of the pests, such as parasitic wasps (predator of European corn borers and corn earworm) or ladybugs (predator of aphids), to reduce problematic pest populations in a natural way.
Cultural control prevents pests from establishing a population, reproducing, and surviving long-term on a crop. Examples of cultural control could include crop rotation, tillage, irrigation changes, or planting resistant varieties.
Chemical control involves utilizing chemical products to address pest pressures, including the use of pheromones to disrupt pest reproduction or insecticides to eliminate pests. Typically implemented as a final step to address enduring pest problems in combination with one or both of the other control approaches, chemical control can be an effective long-term strategy but is primarily used as a last resort in IPM plans. Always ensure you are using the chemical product for its intended use and to address your intended pest; adhering to label guidance is very important. It may be helpful to speak with an agronomist or other ag progressional to determine if you need multiple active ingredients to get full control of the pest pressure affecting your operation.
READ: Pest Alert - Black Cutworm in Midwestern U.S.
It’s important to scout and evaluate your crop throughout the season to identify potential pest problems and react quickly to prevent substantial yield impacts.
Proactively protecting your crops — and your profits — is critical to running a successful operation. FBN® Insurance offers the full suite of federally subsidized crop insurance products, as well as private products like hail and wind protection. At FBN, we don’t believe one-size fits all when it comes to insurance.
Our deeply knowledgeable agents, each equipped with FBN’s proprietary data tools, will partner with you to make sure your insurance is as unique as your operation. See the difference FBN could make to your bottom line this year by connecting with an agent today. Click here to learn more about our expert agents and data-backed approach to crop insurance.
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We are an Equal Opportunity Provider. FBN Insurance services are offered by FBN Insurance LLC (dba FBN Insurance Solutions Services LLC in Texas, and FBN Insurance Solutions LLC in California and Michigan). FBN membership is not required to purchase through FBN Insurance LLC, but certain features may only be available to FBN members. FBN Crop Insurance is currently offered in all U.S. states.