Bruce Potter, IPM specialist Black cutworm (BCW) moths arrived in Minnesota right on schedule this spring. The first moth was captured April 6 in McLeod County. Cooperative Black Cutworm Trapping Network results from 2012 to 2023 show the earliest migration arrival detected was March 30, 2021, and the latest was April 13 in 2018. Numerous cooperators traps reported captures from April 6 through April 19. The number of moths captured in most traps has been low to moderate. The first exception was a Brown County trap where an 8-moth capture occurred April 8. This is a significant capture. The network has been using 2 moths captured over a 2-night period as an indication that a large migration has occurred and an increased potential for crop damage. Other significant captures occurred April 14 in Steele Co, and July 16 -17th in Nicollet, Redwood, Renville, and Swift Counties. Maximum black cutworm moth captures over 2 nights from April 13-19. Black cutworm larvae have a wide host rang
By: Brad Carlson, Extension educator The FINBIN database summarizes farm financial data from thousands of farms involved in Minnesota farm business management programs. What does the data say about fertilizer costs for the most profitable farms versus the least profitable farms? Fertilizer cost comparison Beginning in 2016, I decided to look at fertilizer expenses on a per acre basis in the FINBIN database to see if farmers were overspending on fertilizer. I looked only at corn acres (both rented and owned) for the southeast, south central, southwest, and west central parts of the state (the primary corn producing areas). Because assigning cost to manure is complicated and individual farms use different methods, I excluded all manure users. What I discovered in 2016 was that the 20% most profitable farms’ fertilizer costs averaged $138 per acre while the 20% least profitable farms spent $177 per acre – a 28% difference. My first inclination was that maybe the least profitable farms