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Iowa farmer manages corn rootworm pressure

An eastern Iowa farmer says he’s had better success managing corn rootworm this growing season compared to 2021.

Lance Lillibridge says large portions of his corn fields were knocked down by corn rootworm last year, so he decided to plant 100% corn this year. “In the past, our bean fields have just been showing up with the most pressure, you know the corn after beans,” he said. “That seems to be our problem spots. They are smart bugs. We’re going to try to be smarter.”

He tells Brownfield the results have been positive. “Just not seeing any bugs out there right now,” he said. “Last year when we were running the combine, we were still seeing rootworm beetles.”

Lillibridge says they also used a traited corn and sprayed insecticide.