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Soybean aphids are on the move in Iowa

Soybean aphids are a growing concern for Iowa farmers.

Todd Claussen, director of agronomy for Ames-based FC Coop, says aphids like this kind of weather.

“Soybean aphids love it mild—they love 75 to 78 degrees,” Claussen says. “It’s mid-70’s right now at midday in central Iowa—good conditions for their populations to advance.”

Claussen says aphids are very prolific pests.

“One day you’ll be there and you’ll go, ‘Oh, there’s 10 or 20 or 25 aphids per plant’,” he says. “Six days later, you are over your head and you have 200 to 300 per plant—and that has cost you something.

“You have to be vigilant and you need to be in the field.”

Left untreated, Claussen says, aphids can cause yield losses of 10 to 20 bushels per acre.

AUDIO: Todd Claussen