The drought monitor report as of Tuesday, July 9 shows a little over half the state now totally out of drought conditions. None of the state is in extreme or exception drought. Barton County is ranges from a little abnormally dry conditions with mostly moderate drought. Part of the area northwest of Barton County is in severe drought as is the area of Reno, Sedgwick, and Harvey Counties. The six to ten-day outlook (July 16 to 20) indicates a 50 to 60% chance of likely above normal temperatures and leaning 33 to 40% chance above normal for precipitation. The eight to 14-day outlook (July 18 to 24) indicates a 40 to 50% chance of leaning above normal for temperatures and a continued 33 to 40% chance of leaning above normal for precipitation. No great for dryland soybeans and corn kernel development. Fortunately, much of the area’s corn, especially east of US 281 has pollinated.
Over the last several weeks, the extension district’s agents have shared releases from K-State Research and Extension in Manhattan regarding pest control, especially weed control with the recent rains and wheat harvest. Naturally, much of the focus has centered on chemical weed control which is a necessary component of pest control, especially when trying to reduce and/or eliminate tillage. For those not in the industry, it may seem chemical control is all agriculture does. However, this is far from true. Over the last 50 years, pest control has evolved from simply spraying and tillage to a process termed Integrated Pest Management (IPM).
Before starting, it’s important to understand that producers would be thrilled to not need to apply these chemicals. It’s expensive, takes time and labor, and producers are concerned about protecting environmental resources. While some use of chemical control can be found back to the Roman Era and even before, Prior to the end of World War II, most pest control was mechanical removal of the pest, burning, or in some way physically removing the pest or pest infected organisms. During the war DDT was developed and used initially for mosquito control in the Pacific Theater and for insect susceptible stored items. After the war, DDT was promoted as a miracle chemical for controlling insect pest everywhere. Then in the 1950s, herbicides development led to chemical weed control with Atrazine for weed control initially in corn seeing to be the answer for weed control. Naturally, research into chemical control ramped up for insects, diseases, and weeds. It seemed to many that we were on the cusp of a “Golden Age” of pest control. Many may be familiar with what was happening by the early 1960s with DDT and Rachel Carson’s book, “Silent Spring.” Next was the almost total elimination of bald eagles in the continental U.S. This combined with pollution and health issues, the development of pest resistance, and issues with crop rotations and residual herbicides grabbed the attention of the USDA, land grant institutions. Producers and the public.
The upshot was, by the 1970s, a search among the scientific community for an effective, environmentally safer approach to pest control. Next week: Integrated Pest Management.
Dr. Victor L. Martin is the agriculture instructor/coordinator for Barton Community College. He can be reached at 620-792-9207, ext. 207, ormartinv@bartonccc.edu.
