The Dakotan: This is Ag Issues with Neil Roberts. Neil Roberts: Welcome to another edition of Ag Issues. Our guest this week is NDSU crop protection specialist T.J. Prochaska from the North Central Research Extension Center. And T.J. Wheat midge is hitting the news as it is in-season and becoming more prominent in crops across the region. Give us the latest. TJ Prochaska: That's correct. Wheat midge was detected for the first time in IPM scouting tracts last week, especially in areas of the north central region. Really, the Pierce County area was kind of the hot spot last week. A few other counties really just select handful of them here in their warm weather and a little bit of moisture might help boost those numbers. Looking in at this week's will be interesting to see what some of those trap numbers look like for the week of July the Fourth. Neil Roberts: All right. Sounds good, T.J. And we'll have more on Wheat Midge when we come back. The Dakotan: You're listening to Ag Issues with Neil Roberts on the Dakotan Network Neil Roberts: Talking wheat midge on Ag Issues today with T.J. Prochaska and T.J.. Some potential good news here. You anticipate numbers being down this summer. Tell us why. TJ Prochaska: That's right. We do expect a little bit drop in the numbers for wheat mates this year. And that really has to do with the last two years. The drought has been pretty impactful for much of the state of North Dakota. As many of you know, back to back years, a drought can really settle some of those numbers down. In fact, some of the soil samples sent last fall might actually suggest that as well. Over 2000 soil samples were collected from 22 counties. Of those samples, less than 55% of those samples contained wheat cocoons. So a significant drop in cuckoo numbers could lead to a significant drop in numbers this year. Keep in mind, it'll still be important to scalp because you could have localized areas throughout the region All right. Neil Roberts: Good stuff, as always, T.J., thanks for that. And that brings this report to a close. If you missed one, check us on the website agissues.com. Until next time. I'm Neil Roberts. The Dakotan: You're listening to the Dakotan Network. Real. Honest. Local news.
