What is Pest & Disease Control?

Pest and disease control is a practice used by agricultural producers. To keep the food supply plentiful, they must know how and when to control and eradicate pests and diseases in crops.

Diseases

• Diseases agricultural producers look for depend on the crop. Some of the biggest yielding crops are corn, soybeans, wheat and alfalfa. Diseases in these include seed rot, root rot, soybean rust, common rust, ear rot, stalk rot, head scab and spring black stem.

Pests

• Pests agricultural producers look for include aphids, slugs, two-spotted spider mites, the Mexican bean beetle, the potato leafhopper, alfalfa weevil, cutworms, the cereal leaf beetle and the Hessian fly.

Disease Control

• To control disease, agricultural producers should rotate their crops, improve soil drainage, plant high-yielding hybrids, control insects, control weeds and soil test. A fungicide and/or herbicide may be applied if necessary.

Pest Control

• Pests control is managed by plant rotation, weed control and planting hybrids. Before applying a pesticide, fields must be scouted with the pest identified and counted. It must meet U.S. Department of Agriculture invasion counts before application is justified.

Certification

• Agricultural producers, private and commercial, must attend training seminars to become certified in pesticide application.

USDA

• The USDA is also active in pest and disease control, making national efforts in eradicating the Emerald Ash Borer and preventing the spread of Avian Flu.