As we gear up for planting this week and next there are two insect pests that need to be on our radar. First, reports from Purdue, Penn State and elsewhere have noticed significant flights in black cutworm. This is a migrating moth that lays eggs in corn, which can cause severe cutting of the plant. Stand loss of corn is generally associated with below-ground feeding injury, which occurs below the growing point.

The world's most widely used weed killer is not responsible for perpetuating Sudden Death Syndrome (SDS) in soybeans, research shows.

There are no major insect pests of soybean seedlings, but occasionally we do run into problems. Some folks use an insecticidal seed treatment in soybeans.

DuPont Prevathon insect control powered by Rynaxypyr has received United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) registration for use on cereal crops, including wheat, most other small grains and sorghum.

As the 2013 corn and soybean harvest begins to wind down, we would like to encourage growers to take a proactive approach to managing winter annual weeds prior to the onset of winter.

Corn strip-tilled in the spring of 2009 out-yielded other practices used to grow corn, according to a study from Iowa State University.