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Dr. Erin Hodgson started working in the Department of Entomology, now the Department of Plant Pathology, Entomology, and Microbiology, at Iowa State University in 2009. She is a professor with extension and research responsibilities in corn and soybeans. She has a general background in integrated pest management (IPM) for field crops. Dr. Hodgson's current extension and research programs are focused on improving corn and soybean production by using IPM tactics to protect yield and increase overall farmer profits. Among other projects, she oversees insecticide efficacy evaluations for soybean aphids, Japanese beetles, and aphids in corn. Erin also helps manage emerging field crop pests and invasive species.
Daren Mueller is a professor and extension plant pathologist at Iowa State University. He is also the coordinator of the Iowa State Integrated Pest Management (IPM) program. Daren received his bachelor's degree from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1996, and his master's degree and doctorate in Plant Pathology from the University of Illinois-Urbana in 1999 and 2001. Daren’s main research interests involve understanding the biology and management of field crop diseases. Daren is also a co-director of the North Central IPM Center and the Crop Protection Network.
Dr. Alison Robertson is a professor of plant pathology and microbiology. She provides extension education on the diagnosis and management of corn and soybean diseases. Her research interests include Pythium seedling disease of corn and soybean and Goss's wilt. Dr. Robertson received her bachelor's degree in plant pathology in 1991 from the University of Kwazulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, and came to the United States in 1999 to pursue a doctoral degree in plant pathology at Clemson University. She started working at Iowa State University in May 2004.
Adam Sisson is an extension specialist with the Iowa State University Integrated Pest Management (IPM) program and a Certified Crop Adviser. Sisson focuses on the development of publications and other educational resources for farmers, agribusiness, and students. He received his bachelor's degree in agronomy and environmental studies in 2006 and a master's degree in sustainable agriculture in 2009; both from Iowa State University.
Dr. Mark Licht is an associate professor and extension cropping systems specialist with Iowa State University Extension and Outreach. His extension, research and teaching program is focused on how to holistically manage Iowa cropping systems to achieve productivity, profitability and environmental goals. Research is centered around varied aspects of soybean, corn and cover crop management as well as agronomic implications of precision technologies.
Meaghan Anderson is a field agronomist in central Iowa and an extension specialist at Iowa State University Extension and Outreach. Educational programming is available for farmers, agribusinesses, pesticide applicators, certified crop advisors, and other individuals interested in crop production.
Areas of expertise include weed management, weed biology, cover crops, corn and soybean management, and integrated pest management.
Subscribe to the Central Iowa Crop Update for current topics and agriculture events in the area.
Dr. Sotirios Archontoulis is an assistant professor of integrated cropping systems at the Department of Agronomy. His main research interests involve understanding complex Genotype by Management by Environment interactions and modeling various components of the soil-plant-atmosphere continuum. Dr. Archontoulis's overall goal is to investigate practices that can increase the efficiency of system by means of increasing crop yields and simultaneously decreasing inputs or losses such as water and nitrogen. His approach combines field experimentation and use of mechanistic simulations models.
Dr. Kathleen Delate's current position as a professor and extension organic specialist at Iowa State University is a joint position between the departments of horticulture and agronomy, where she's responsible for research, extension, and teaching in organic agriculture. Organic agriculture is now a $35 billion industry in the United States, with 18,000 organic farmers. Her research focuses on pest management and soil fertility management strategies for transitioning and certified organic farmers.
Dr. Delate grew up on the East coast where her father was a statistician for Dupont and her mother hailed from a family farm in Magnolia, Minnesota. She spent many summers working on her cousin’s diversified farm in Minnesota, helping bale hay and feed hogs, which is where she developed a love for agriculture. Dr. Delate earned her bachelor's degree in agronomy, a master's degree in horticulture from the University of Florida, and a doctoral degree in agricultural ecology from the University of California-Berkeley. She has farmed organically in Iowa, California, Florida, and Hawaii. In 2014, she spent a sabbatical in Italy, studying organic no-till farming with some of the 48,000 organic farmers there. A video on the organic no-till system is available at: https://vimeo.com/user20353817/review/99643832/0a09248894
Results of the organic research are located on the Iowa State University Organic Agriculture webpage: https://www.leopold.iastate.edu/organic
Subscribe to RSS FeedA collection of educational resources to help people on farms, orchards, forests, and other agricultural establishments comply with EPA’s revised Worker Protection Standard (WPS) regulation is now available online at http://pesticideresources.org/wps...
The IPM team at Iowa State University has been monitoring for field crop pests for a long time. The target pests have changed over the years, but the goal always remains the same: help inform farmers about pest activity in Iowa. One long-standing...
The new crop season is right around the corner, and we want you to be prepared for yield-reducing disease, insect and weed issues! ISU Extension publications are great field scouting resources and provide a wealth of information for identifying production issues in your fields.
Four ISU...
Dr. Fred Gould, University Distinguished Professor and Reynolds Professor of Entomology at North Carolina State University will present the 29th Staniforth Memorial Lecture on April 3rd at 4PM in the Curtiss Hall Auditorium on the Iowa State University Campus. Dr. Gould...
Iowa State University Extension and Outreach published the Field Crop Scouting book as an online learning tool for crop scouts and other ag professionals in Iowa. This interactive textbook allows individuals to acquire knowledge about multiple crop scouting topics to help create stronger crop...
Farmers and agriculture suppliers will want to attend the Southeast Iowa Agricultural Research Association annual meeting at the Johnson County Extension office in Iowa City on Thursday, March 1, 2018 beginning at 10:00 a.m., according to association president Jeff Ellis.
Following a...
Iowa State University Extension and Outreach has published an updated version of the Soybean Diseases publication to help farmers and other professionals in the agriculture industry identify and scout for disease threats to soybean production in Iowa. The publication includes scouting tips,...
If you are interested in an in-depth course covering soil fertility and nutrient management, then consider attending the Iowa State University Extension and Outreach 2018 Soil Fertility and Nutrient Management Short Course. This is a two-day event that provides an opportunity to dig deeper into...
Farmers and agribusiness have a new tool to help them tackle crop management challenges. The Crop Protection Network, a multi-state and international collaboration of university and provincial extension specialists, has redesigned its website...
Most of Iowa was wet and cool during planting time (end April to mid-May), warm and dry during vegetative growth (June to July), and cool and wet during reproductive development (August to September). In some locations, the June-July drought was severe with precipitation deficits exceeding eight...
Dicamba has been an important component of Iowa weed management systems for more than 40 years. The history of its use is somewhat unique in that its popularity has ebbed and flowed over time. The increase in herbicide resistant weeds combined with the introduction of dicamba-resistant soybean...
At the recent North Central Weed Science Society annual meeting I was asked to provide the opening presentation (A historical perspective on dicamba) in a symposium focusing on issues with dicamba. Following are the slides and the abstract of my presentation.
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The Iowa State University Extension and Outreach Soil Fertility web site has undergone a recent redesign and update. The site was updated, but the URL has remained the same (http...
The number of acres planted to cover crops annually has been steadily increasing in recent years throughout the United States. Meanwhile, the soybean cyst nematode (SCN) continues to sit atop of the U.S. list of yield-suppressing pathogens. It’s no coincidence, then, that there is an increasing...
There have been many reports of corn along the edge of the fields yielding drastically less than the remainder of the field. In many cases, the yield loss is most obvious on the southern edge of the field, but it has been observed along the west, east, and north sides of fields this year. This...
Up to this point in the harvest season we have been short on grain dry down and cooling weather. Corn moisture percentages have been hanging in the 20’s, sometimes in the upper 20’s. This past week eliminated much of the moisture, but favorable field dry down weather rarely continues into...
I’ve received lots of inquiries in the past few weeks about sampling fields for nematodes that feed on corn. Most every Iowa field has one or more different nematode species present at low numbers. But it’s only when numbers are at damaging levels that yield loss will occur.
Unfortunately...
I grew up watching the television show Quincy, M.E. Jack Klugman starred as a Los Angeles County medical examiner in the mystery-thriller, one-hour show as Quincy who had to solve mysterious deaths. I would argue this show set the tone for future shows such as "CSI: Crime Scene...
Fall is usually not a time I expect to get questions about armyworms, but last week I received several questions about fall armyworms in cover crops, particularly in cereal rye, triticale, or wheat cover crops. In Iowa, fall armyworms can be pests in corn, hayfields and pastures, but this is the...
Over the past couple of weeks we’ve been doing stalk rot assessments at several of the ISU Research Farms including the Southeast Research and Demonstration Farm, the McNay Research Farm, and the Ames Farm. While the plants seemed to be standing well, minus where the raccoons had fun in one of...
If you would like to learn more about current soil fertility issues and research being conducted at universities across the North Central region, then consider attending the 47th Annual North Central Extension-Industry Soil Fertility Conference to be held November 15-16, 2017, from 1:00 p.m. to...
This week, my technician Greg VanNostrand found a black widow in our storage Quonset at the ISU Johnson Research Farm. The farm is just south of Ames in Story County. She is an adult female and had a pile of dead body fragments below her web. Needless to say, she was healthy and happy in the...
Often people have fond memories of monarch butterflies and look forward to their arrival each summer. But there is some confusion about their migration pattern and population decline. “How can such a tiny butterfly travel such a great distance?” and “What do you mean the population is declining...
To help farmers and agronomists identify, scout, and manage corn diseases a new Corn Diseases booklet, published by Iowa State University Extension and Outreach, is now available to crop producers and industry professionals. The up-...