REGINA – Rusty grain beetles are thriving across the Prairies thanks to the ideal weather.
It’s too warm to freeze the insects and too cold for farmers to gas them.
“This is one of the worst years going,” said Cargill Winnipeg agronomist John Simons.
Alberta Wheat Pool’s Norm Chilton said all grain companies in his province are having problems with rusty grain beetle infestations. “The numbers are up,” he said. “They’re way up.”
Grain companies in Manitoba, Saskatch-ewan and Alberta report more elevators are being infected with beetles than in normal years. The Canadian Grain Commission has found more than 800 grain cars infected with the bugs so far – a substantial increase from other years.
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A combination of factors has made this an especially bad year for the insects, said Agriculture Canada researcher Colin Demianyk.
The holdover of low quality grain from previous harvests, the warm weather this fall and lack of cold weather this winter are near-perfect conditions for rusty grain beetles to grow.
Demianyk said the beetles are tough bugs to crack because they can survive sub-zero temperatures for weeks. At minus 15 degrees they’ll survive about 10 days, but at minus five degrees they can last up to six weeks. If warm spots are allowed to linger in grain bins, the bugs will survive the winter, breed in the spring and become a more serious problem.
When temperatures plunge, farmers can turn their grain and start their aeration systems to draw the grain temperature down. Even when it warms up outside, the grain could stay cold, said Demianyk.
Producers will have to act fast if the temperature does drop, judging by forecasts of Environment Canada. The government weather agency says this is an El Nino year, which means warm air has been flowing over the Prairies where normally Arctic air sits.
This suggests the warm weather will continue until the middle of March, said Brian Fehr of the agency. Apart from freezing the rusty grain beetles, farmers can gas the infected grain with toxins, such as Phostoxin. But they require temperatures above five degrees to become active.
Southern Manitoba may fare better than other areas on the Prairies because it has had a number of very cold snaps since Christmas, and will likely get some more, Fehr said.
Chilton said grain beetle infestations are occurring in all of Alberta’s grain-growing areas, but Maurice Demmans, SWP manager of commercial and customer relations, said there is much less of it in northern Saskatchewan areas.
The usual zone of rusty beetle activity has dramatically expanded. An area starting near Moose Jaw and expanding outward like a pyramid, south to the American border, is where grain beetles are usually reported. This year all areas south of a line drawn from Kindersley through Estevan are showing considerable infestations.
While the problem is bad this year, Chilton said he thinks the worst problems are past. Most of the low quality crops that have been lying around have now been put through the system, and the grain going in now is much cleaner.
While 800 grain cars have been quarantined because of grain beetle infestation, Paul Graham of the Canadian Grain Commission said there have been no delays in grain transportation or handling.
