The Hodgson lab regularly scouts for field crop insect pests during the summer, which includes monitoring the distribution of new pests. Sometimes this effort is part of a regional grant, but occasionally it is for our own interest. This article shares the updated distribution maps for soybean gall midge and soybean tentiform leafminer in Iowa with detections from the 2026 growing season.

Iowa State University recommends that fall manure and anhydrous ammonia application not occur until the soil temperature at 4” is fifty and falling. What's changing this year is when that date is likely to arrive.

It has been nearly 10 years since the first discovery of Asian copperleaf (Acalypha australis) in an Iowa crop field. Since that time, the species has been identified in crop fields in 12 Iowa counties and two other states. While we’re still developing management recommendations, now through crop harvest is an ideal time to discover it in crop fields.