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Due to technical difficulty, this is a second take at the podcast today. Matt and Erin start by sharing highlights from the recent International Congress of Entomology (ICE) meeting in Orlando last week. Erin talks about pest resistance issues for corn rootworm and western bean cutworm. Matt summarizes some work on rapid resistance development in agro-ecology systems. Fall nuisance invaders were also briefly discussed, including minute pirate bugs, boxelder bugs and lady beetles. Matt got excited by a recent aphid find on ISU campus this week - aphids and parasitized aphids were on collected from buckthorn. They don't understand the implications for these finds yet, but it is certainly not a common find. Lastly, Matt and Erin are speaking at the upcoming ICM Conference in Ames. Registration details will be posted soon. 

Minute pirate bug adult feeding on white fly nymphs. Photo at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthocoridae.

Matt and Erin wrap up a few loose ends before the holiday week. First, Matt shares DowAgroSciences sulfoxaflor insecticide got a renewed registration. This insecticide targets fluid-feeding insects and was an option for soybean aphid before it was canceled in 2015. Now, sulfoxaflor can be used in a number of crops, but not for corn or soybean; cotton and sorghum have emergency labels in some U.S. states. Over the weekend, a soybean aphid Biotype-2 colony died due to a bad compressor in a growth chamber. Aphids don't tend to do well in temperatures over 100 degrees, and these ladies got cooked. Our labs host all four soybean aphid biotypes plus a few other aphid colonies. Colony management is really important and the maintenance is ongoing to keep plants and aphids healthy. Iowa State University features a 3MT (Three-minute thesis) oral competition this week. Three people featured insect-related presentations (a long video of all the speakers can be found here).

Upcoming extension events:

ICM Conference (30 Nov, 1 Dec) in Ames

Crop Advantage Series (January 2017) in Iowa

CCA Online Review Course, (on demand)

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Matt's a bit under the weather in this episode, but that won't stop his awesome commentary (see connection to Michael Jordan here)! Today, Matt and Erin talk about a new research development with soybean aphid. The entire genome was recently sequenced; see journal paper here). This is only the fourth aphid genome to be sequenced so far. Colleagues, Drs. Brad Coates and Andy Michael, helped generate data for this journal article. Matt explains the reasoning for sequencing the genome of pest species like soybean aphid. Once we have a better understanding of the genetic makeup of a pest, we can try to disrupt it and make them less successful. Then, Erin shares some recent questions coming to her from around Iowa - particularly if snow cover can help insects survive the winter. 

In the last episode of season 7, Matt and Erin talk about two new insecticide options for soybean aphid in Iowa. Movento and Sivanto by Bayer CropSciences are products that target fluid-feeding pests, like aphids, and are considered reduced-risk options compared to broad spectrum insecticides. Movento is a Group 23 and Sivanto is a Group 4D. To learn more about these insecticide groups, visit the IRAC website.

In Episode 2, Matt and Erin cover a range of topics. First, they summarize planting conditions for 2017 - most places in the state are too wet and and cold to plant. The weather also affects insect activity as well. Matt expands on a recent ICM News article by Erin regarding "green bridges." Both had students graduating this semester - congrats to Eric Clifton and Shelby Pritchard on all your hard work and efforts during your time at Iowa State! Finally, Matt updates us on the recent legislative activity to close the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture.