Insects To Watch For In 2020

Jan 29, 2020

Manitoba Agriculture & Resource Development has been on the road this winter talking about which insects to watch for during the 2020 growing season.

Entomologist John Gavloski gave his forecast for grasshoppers.

"Levels have gone up in the last two years. Going into 2020, we're advising just to get out there in June, scout your ditches, your areas outside the field where grasshoppers may overwinter, pasture lands. Levels have been increasing, whether they continue to increase or not, depends on weather and natural enemies."

He also discussed cutworms.

"Populations have been increasing. The way cutworms cycles usually work is we get three or four really bad years and usually populations after that start tapering off and that's often driven by natural enemies. So, I'm hoping we've peaked."

Flea beetles were also talked about.

"We had very heavy populations last year, there's really not a great way to monitor and accurately forecast what will happen in the next year but what we usually advise farmers and agronomists to do is consider what was present in August and September when you were harvesting your crop."

Click here to see more...

Video: Evolution of Beef Cattle Farming

The Clear Conversations podcast took to the road for a special episode recorded in Nashville during CattleCon, bringing listeners straight into the heart of the cattle industry. Host Tracy Sellers welcomed rancher Steve Wooten of Beatty Canyon Ranch in Colorado for a wide-ranging discussion that blended family history and sustainability, particularly as it relates to the future of beef production.

Sustainability emerged as a central theme of the conversation, a word that Wooten acknowledges can mean very different things depending on who you ask. For him, sustainability starts with the soil. Healthy soil produces healthy grass, which supports efficient cattle capable of producing year after year with minimal external inputs. It’s an approach that equally considers vegetation, animal efficiency, and long-term profitability.

That philosophy aligned naturally with Wooten’s involvement in the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, where he served as a representative for the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. The roundtable brings together the entire beef supply chain—from producers to retailers—along with universities, NGOs, and allied industries. Its goal is not regulation, Wooten emphasized, but collaboration, shared learning, and continuous improvement.