Louisiana Soybean Yields Hurt by an Old Pest

by Don Molino

This soybean season is just about wrapped up. LSU Soybean Specialist Dr. Ronnie Levy at the Dean Lee Research Station just south of Alexandria says while yields won't be setting any records, they're still going to average between 45 and 50 bushels per acre.

The flooding back in August naturally caused a lot of problems for the bean crop, but levy says the biggest obstacle growers faced this year across Louisiana was the red banded stink bug.

"We've had some insecticides that are available but they don't have a very long residual period," said Levy, "and we have such tremendous pressure in scouting for them that we have a hard time controlling them."

"And we're losing some of that control because the present insecticides aren't giving as good control they have in the past due to the sheer numbers of this pest," Levy continued.

Growers in a lot of areas were unable to spray for stink bugs due to the August flooding "and then they didn't know if they should spray and invest more money in a crop that may not survive."

(This report is a service of the Louisiana Soybean and Grain Research and Promotion Board)