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Pest pressure is a top concern for eastern Iowa farmer

After facing corn rootworm pressure in 2021, eastern Iowa farmer Lance Lillibridge had to come up with a game plan for this year.

He tells Brownfield crop rotations are not always the answer. “We need to make sure we’re rotating our technologies between insecticide, crop rotation, and traits,” Lillibridge said.

But, Lillibridge has yet to start planting. “We have all of our seed still in bags,” he said. “We have not planted anything. We have been cold and wet.”

The Benton County farmer says soils were drying out early this week, but their temperatures were just 41 degrees. “We get one chance to do this in planting right,” Lillibridge said. “We don’t like to re-plant, so we are going to go ahead and wait. We can plant a lot of corn in a short period of time, so we are not worried.”

Lillibridge typically raises corn and soybeans, but has decided to only plant corn this spring.

AUDIO: Lance Lillibridge, Iowa Farmer