Soybean Farmers Urged to Prepare for Gall Midge Threat

Soybean farmers need to be prepared for the newest pest threat, gall midge. “I warn growers here in Nebraska and other states, this thing’s not going away,” said University of Nebraska-Lincoln Associate Professor of Entomology Justin McMechan. Part of the problem gall midge presents is how difficult it is to control. “Foliar insecticide application is kind of the go-to for farmers when they meet an acute problem like this, but it was pretty apparent it was going to be really tough for foliar insecticides to be what we could rely on.” When left uncontrolled, significant yield loss is a reality. “We saw 18 to 31 percent losses on the entire field on average,” said McMechan. “I had growers here in Nebraska that went from 63-bushel yields to 13.”