Late August Finds in NW MN Corn and Soybean Fields

Until recent days, the 2025 growing season had been largely uneventful for the Minnesota Soybean Research & Promotion Council-sponsored scouts that traveled the countryside scouting soybean fields this year in northwest Minnesota. Today, I decided to take a drive about 20 minutes away from the Northwest Research & Outreach Center (NWROC), stopping at corn and soybean fields along the way to see whether there was anything that folks may have an interest in learning about. I was not disappointed.

Corn disease and insect injury

Insect injury

There was evidence of considerable insect injury on ear tips in a corn research trial at the NWROC in Crookston (Figure 1), with many kernels sustaining injury. In addition to the physical injury caused by northern corn rootworm beetles (Figure 2), picnic beetles and other pests, there was evidence of opportunistic pathogens that took advantage to colonize remaining kernel tissue.