Slow planting progress this spring has led to all efforts focused on getting the crop in the ground. Often the first operation thrown to the wayside is application of pre-emergence herbicides in soybean. A decade ago this practice could be successful, but with widespread multiple herbicide resistance, it either sets up an imminent control failure or contributes to further evolution of herbicide resistance.

On Aug. 24, 2012, in cooperation with Aaron Gassmann's laboratory, Iowa State University, the evolution of field resistance by corn rootworms to the Cry3Bb1 protein was confirmed in some problem fields located in northwestern Illinois (Henry and Whiteside Counties).