Insects don’t pay attention to borders so entomologists have been given more funding to also breach those boundaries to monitor and research pests in Western Canada.
Owen Olfert of Agriculture Canada’s Saskatoon Research Centre said the addition of $10,000 of producer contributions to funding and support from federal and provincial sources has made the Insect Monitoring Group possible.
In the past, each province did its own monitoring and kept unique records about the insect populations within its boundaries. Staff from each province shared information on an informal basis and there was little support for that information to be centralized or for the standardization of data collection and sharing.
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Olfert is now leading that initiative.
“This is a real opportunity to provide insect forecasts on a consistent basis to producers. More important it gives us the opportunity to expand our research into trends and control in the Canadian context,” he said.
“Western Grains Research Foundation (WGRF) has put up $10,000 of funding for this project. It pays for staffing, graduate students, summer students, travel, traps, materials and supplies,” he said.
“Without these things the research just can’t get done or co-ordinated between the provinces,” he said.
“We need the regional data to ensure that we can build insect forecast models that are meaningful.”
Olfert said a changing climate and the resulting spread of insects threaten prairie agriculture.
“We are seeing change in insect populations. Every farmer sees it first-hand. We aim to be able to provide population models that allow farmers to make informed decisions about risk and control,” he said.
Olfert is working with Alberta Agriculture’s Scott Meers, Scott Hartley from Saskatchewan Agriculture, John Gavloski from Manitoba Agriculture, Kerry Clark from British Columbia, Lloyd Dosdall from the University of Alberta and Serge Trudel of Environment Canada in Quebec.
“Insect pests require a national approach. Provincial agricultural extension departments no longer have the resources they once did, but this initiative improves on any approach a single group might take,” said Olfert.
The WGRF funding for the project comes from a fund created through the collection of money overpaid by farmers for rail transportation of grain.
“We consider this to be a great investment on behalf of producers,” said Amanda Soulodre of WGRF.
Weekly forecast maps and text reports about insects including wheat midge, bertha armyworm, diamondback moth, cabbage seedpod weevil, and others can be ordered for delivery via e-mail from the WGRF website at www.westerngrains.com.
