Alberta AgriSystems Living Lab: Peace Region Field Tour - July 10, 2024

 Here's a list of items and links mentioned by Jennifer at today's field tour: 

• Annual canola survey of the Peace River region (link here); Agreements: 102; Fields: 1170; Targeted survey sites: 110.
• Bertha armyworm (Prairie Pest Monitoring Network's Weekly Update).
• Diamondback moth (Prairie Pest Monitoring Network's Weekly Update).
• Field bio-sanitation protocol (posted May 1, 2024).
• Field crop and forage insect pests and natural enemies in western Canada (ISBN 978-1-100-25768-6; pdf version). 
• Grasshopper monitoring (Prairie Pest Monitoring Network's Weekly Update).
• Pea leaf weevil (Prairie Pest Monitoring Network's Weekly Update).
• Permission to Access by AAFC Staff (posted Jun 3, 2024). 
• Prairie Crop Disease Monitoring Network (link here).
• Prairie Pest Monitoring Network website (link here). 
• Prairie Weed Monitoring Network (link here).
• Weather synopsis for Week 9 (posted by Prairie Pest Monitoring Network)
• Weekly Updates (posted by Prairie Pest Monitoring Network)
• Wheat midge monitoring (Prairie Pest Monitoring Network's Weekly Update).
• X  @bugs5132 

Peace Region Forage Seed Tour - July 9, 2024

Here's a list of items and links mentioned by Jennifer at today's field tour:

• PDF copy of notes including CRF larval pests, cutworms, grasshoppers (posted 8, Jul, 2024).

• Alberta Forage Manual (2009; Ag-Dex120/20-1; ISBN 0-7732-6082-X; pdf version). Includes Forage Insects and Natural Enemies of Forage Pest Insects chapters. 
• Annual canola survey of the Peace River region (link here); Agreements: 102; Fields: 1170; Targeted survey sites: 110.
• Arthropods of legume forage crops (2011; ISBN 978-0-9689321-5-5; pdf version). 
• Cereal leaf beetle (link here).
• City of Grande Prairie Youth Career Discovery Expo (posted Mar 21, 2024).
• Cutworm field guide (2017; ISBN 978-0-660-08051-2; pdf version). 
• European skipper information (posted Jan 19, 2017). 
• Fall crown-feeding insect larval pest species (posted Sep 13, 2023). 
• Field bio-sanitation protocol (posted May 1, 2024).
• Field crop and forage insect pests and natural enemies in western Canada (ISBN 978-1-100-25768-6; pdf version). 
• Field Heroes YouTube channel
• Pea leaf weevil (posted by Prairie Pest Monitoring Network)
• Permission to Access by AAFC Staff (posted Jun 3, 2024). 
• Prairie Pest Monitoring Network website (link here).
• Red clover casebearer (posted Feb 5, 2019). 
• Weather synopsis for Week 9 (posted by Prairie Pest Monitoring Network)
• Weekly Updates (posted by Prairie Pest Monitoring Network)
• X  @bugs5132

Visit by Alberta Pulse Growers Commission - July 9, 2024

 Here's a list of items and links mentioned by Jennifer at today's field tour: 

• Today's notes as PDF copy (posted Jul 8, 2024).

• 2017 Centennial: Project 200 School-aged field tour (posted 2017)
• 2019 School-aged field tour (posted 2019) 
• Annual canola survey of the Peace River region (link here); Agreements: 102; Fields: 1170; Targeted survey sites: 110.
• City of Grande Prairie Youth Career Discovery Expo (posted Mar 21, 2024). 
• Cutworm field guide (2017; ISBN 978-0-660-08051-2; pdf version). 
• Alberta Forage Manual (2009; Ag-Dex120/20-1; ISBN 0-7732-6082-X; pdf version). Includes Forage Insects and Natural Enemies of Forage Pest Insects chapters.
• Arthropods of legume forage crops (2011; ISBN 978-0-9689321-5-5; pdf version). 
• Field bio-sanitation protocol (posted May 1, 2024).
• Field crop and forage insect pests and natural enemies in western Canada (ISBN 978-1-100-25768-6; pdf version). 
• Field Heroes YouTube channel
• Pea leaf weevil (posted by Prairie Pest Monitoring Network)
• Permission to Access by AAFC Staff (posted Jun 3, 2024). 
• Prairie Pest Monitoring Network website (link here).
• Weather synopsis for Week 9 (posted by Prairie Pest Monitoring Network)
• Weekly Updates (posted by Prairie Pest Monitoring Network)
• X  @bugs5132

Permission to Access Land by AAFC's Pest Management Staff

As of 2023, Agriculture and Agri--Food Canada requires staff members to obtain signed Permission to Access from landowners. Even if verbal permission is provided, staff members are accompanied, or urgent risk is involved, AAFC staff are still required by managers to first obtain a signed form before entering a field.

Please - we need help from producers across the Peace River region to help collect the vital data that keeps our agricultural region informed and prepared to deal with insect pest risk!  

Please scan the QR code below if you are interested in finding out more about the insect pests in your fields. Technical staff working at AAFC-Beaverlodge in the IPM program (Otani) will then follow-up with you by phone or email to set up Permission to Access forms but also to  describe what research projects your land can contribute towards to help! 

Field Bio-Sanitation Protocol and Mitigating Transmission of Soil-borne Diseases

Clubroot is a soil-borne disease of canola and other cruciferous plants of the Brassicaceae family which is caused by a pathogen called Plasmodiophora brassicae. Clubroot is spread when infested soil is transported by vehicles and farm machinery or though wind and water erosion. Roots of infected plants have a club-like appearance (Fig. 1). Above-ground symptoms vary depending on the growth stage at time of infection. Common symptoms include wilting, stunting, yellowing, and premature ripening. Above-ground symptoms are similar to common canola disorders thus it is important to carefully dig up suspect plants and inspect the roots.

Figure 1. Characteristic clubroot galls on an infested canola plant. 

Photo: (LL, ND, CC BY-SA 2.0)

The distribution of clubroot in the Peace River region has increased since first appearing in Big Lakes County (August 2017) and now includes additional sites in northwestern Alberta:

• Access the current clubroot map here to learn more about where this disease occurs within Alberta.
• Refer to Alberta Agriculture and Forestry's website for more information on clubroot. 
• Refer to Clubroot Disease | Canola Encyclopedia (canolacouncil.org) for more information.
• Refer to Preventing Clubroot: Agricultural Sanitization for more information on preventing clubroot.

Back in 2004, the Integrated Pest Management Program (IPM) implemented biosanitation protocols including use of tyvek booties and sterilization of all field equipment. From 2017-2018, field sanitation involved the use of Virkon and bleach and, since 2019, involved bleach only. As of May 2023, our biosecurity protocol includes:

• Adhering to a strict field research sanitation protocol.
• Identifying ourselves by operating marked Government of Canada vehicles when visiting fields. 
• Reducing or cancelling field work activities on rainy days to avoid tracking mud.
• Washing AAFC vehicles at commercial car washes BEFORE and AFTER conducting field work (Fig. 2).
• Sterilizing and washing vehicle floor mats with bleach each day (Fig. 3).

Figure 2. Washing AAFC vehicle at the commercial to remove soil after a long day of fieldwork. 

Photo: Maddy Jones-AAFC Beaverlodge.

Figure 3. Floor mats are hung and sterilized with bleach while at the commercial car wash. 

Photo: Maddy Jones-AAFC Beaverlodge.

• Wearing impermeable shoes while operating and exiting vehicle. These shoes are sterilized each day.
• Sterilizing impermeable boots using bleach both AT and BETWEEN each field (Fig. 4). 
• Wearing disposable booties are over sterilized impermeable boots prior to entering field or pull-in (Fig. 5).

Figure 4. Impermeable boots are placed into bins containing a bleach solution while traveling between field sites. Photo: Maddy Jones AAFC-Beaverlodge.

Figure 5. Disposable booties are donned over sterilized impermeable boots prior to field entry at each site. 

Photo: Maddy Jones AAFC-Beaverlodge.

• Parking AAFC vehicles on the side of the road - we NEVER drive into a field!
• Using sodium hypochlorite or bleach (2%) to sterilize vehicle tires, wheels, and wheel-wells both AT and BETWEEN each field (Fig. 6). 

Figure 6. Wheel-wells and tires are sterilized upon arrival to each field site using a bleach solution. 

Photo: Maddy Jones AAFC-Beaverlodge.

• Soaking all field equipment that contacts soil (e.g., spades, trowels, soil core samplers) in bleach after use in each field. 
• Bagging and sterilizing all booties using an autoclave (employs high temperature and pressure).
• Carrying multiples of small field equipment to allow for soaking in bleach and/or sterilization using an autoclave.
• Maintaining a log of all visits and all field sanitation protocols implemented.

Please contact us if you have questions or concerns! If you wish to personally see our sanitization efforts in action, we can arrange it! You can contact us by emailing Shelby Dufton.

We thank growers for their continued support of field research by way of granting permission for our staff to access land to collect data. Out staff continue to do our utmost to ensure every field remains protected. 

Post prepared by Madysen Jones

City of Grande Prairie Youth Career Discovery Expo

The IPM Program participated in the 2024 Youth Career Discovery Expo in Grande Prairie AB today! Our program helped promote our field entomology research program while also describing how High School, Post-Secondary, or even Graduate students can apply to work for the Federal Student Work Employment Program (FSWEP). We talked about the Beaverlodge Research Farm which is part of the network of Agriculture and Agri-Food Research and Development Centres spread across Canada and the types of research that takes place at our Farm. 

The day-long event drew at least 2000 students from across the region! We were pleased to showcase a small portion of our insect voucher specimens (Figs. 1-2 and 4-7) using an interactive "Insect Scavenger Hunt" created by our two technicians, Amanda and Shelby!  Keen visitors were challenged to find three different insects amongst the pinned voucher specimens we brought along to view. Winners earned their very own ground beetle to take home (Figs. 3 and 8)!  We were one of the few agricultural careers to be included in this special event!

Many thanks to our program's two excellent technicians, Amanda and Shelby, and to the City of Grande Prairie for hosting this important event!  Amanda, Shelby, and Jennifer spoke with 200-some students who stopped by to talk! The most exciting part of the day was that 60 carefully curated ground beetle specimens were adopted to good homes with students who left us feeling pretty excited about Entomology! 

Here's a few photos of the day-long event at our booth! 

Figure 1. Booth, including our interactive insect scavenger hunt, is ready to go!

Figure 2. Our booth at the Youth Discovery Expo is ready to go and here's our first visitor of the day!

Figure 3. Our ground beetle "prizes" are ready and waiting to be won by visitors taking on our interactive insect scavenger hunt!

Figure 4. Standing room only by 10 am - great interest from our student visitors and some super entomological identification skills at work!

Figure 5. Shelby talking insects with students while they completed the insect scavenger hunt.

Figure 6. Amanda describing insect characteristics for the pinned voucher specimens.

Figure 7. More student visitors to our booth - we had really great interest and excellent questions!

Figure 8. We brought 70 "prize" ground beetles and, by the end of the day, 60-some were adopted to good homes by our enthusiastic student visitors!

#Entomology #Agriculture #WiSTEM #WestCdnAg #CareerOpportunities #PeaceRiverRegion #AAFC #IPM #FieldHeroes #NaturalEnemies

Biological control research activities we contribute towards (1999-2023)

We just pulled together a quick summary of the various biological control activities our program has contributed towards...

AAFC-STB-Alberta-Beaverlodge Research Farm (Jennifer.Otani@agr.gc.ca) – The Pest Management program is active in annual and perennial field crops grown in the Alberta and BC portions of the Peace River region (i.e., 55-59 degrees North by 117-120 degrees West). 

Historical projects include parasitoids/parasitism of Lygus spp. by Peristenus, Phasia aeneoventris; Delia spp. larvae in canola by Aleochora bilineata; coccinellid larvae by Oomyzus scaposus; cutworms in annuals and perennials grown for seed Apamea devastator, A. amputatrix, Nephelodes minians, Euxoa auxiliaris, Actebia fennica and more by various parasitoids and viruses; Coleophora deauratella and C. mayrella by Chelonus spp., Neochrysocharis formosa now placed in genus Omphale; Thymelicus lineola with zero observed parasitism over multiple years, Tychius meliloti, T. picirostris, T. stephensii with zero observed parasitism over multiple years, Hypera nigrirostris by Scambus hispae (tentative), Bathyplectes curculionis, B. exiguus; Sitodiplosis mosellana by Macroglenes penetrans, Platygaster sp., Inostemma walkeri. 

Currently, the program supports R. DeClerck-Floate (AAFC-Lethbridge) with a release and post-release data collection on common toadflax near Grande Cache AB in 2022 plus we are following-up in 2024 by (i) confirming Oulema melanpus at larval feeding sites reported in 2023 in the Peace River region, and (ii) attempting to confirm larval parasitism levels. 

Biological control topics relevant to the region needing support for the future include wheat midge parasitism, cereal leaf beetle parasitism, seed-feeding clover weevil parasitism, red clover casebearer parasitism, European skipper parasitism, plus the control of common toadflax, oxeye daisy, Canada thistle and kochia. 

Thank you to Dr. O. Lonsdale (AAFC-Ottawa) who coordinates NIS submissions and to the many taxonomists who have helped us over the years!