GrainsWest Spring 2021

Spring 2021 Grains West 32 FEATURE DAVE MCLAUGHLIN Elliottsburg, Perry County, Pennsylvania, U.S.A. Patience is a virtue, which makes Dave McLaughlin about as virtuous as they come. The dairy and grain farmer has substantially refined his philosophy and approach to insects, and is engaged in a lifelong learning process on the subject. Fifteen years ago, he was unashamedly laying down “just in case” applications of insecticide on his crops, which are primarily soybean, corn, wheat, barley and alfalfa. Over the years, however, and through extension events and conversations with entomologists at nearby Pennsylvania State University, McLaughlin has learned that the insect ecosystem holds tremendous benefits for him. All of this head knowledge proved useful in 2015 with an aphid-infested field of soybeans. McLaughlin and his agronomist noted the pests were at threshold levels, yet McLaughlin decided to zig and not zag. It was a calculated risk to forego a rescue treatment at about $14 USD/ac ($17.83 CAD) with the potential loss of about 20 per cent yield if he was wrong. “I opted not to treat because of the amount of lady beetles I saw attacking the aphids that day,” he said. “A week later we checked again, aphid levels had crashed.” Not only did he save the application costs, he saved the beneficials in his field, which include fireflies and ground beetles. “I was hoping that the lady beetles would come through because I didn’t want the negative effects on the entire ecosystem of that broadcast insecticide treatment. The potential loss would have far outweighed to apply the rescue treatment.’’ The risk of losing two of his top three beneficials—fireflies and ground beetles—would have also hurt his ongoing fight against slugs. Officially a mollusk, slugs do not die when sprayed with insecticide. Insecticide treated seed is likewise an ineffective control. It doesn’t kill the slugs that consume it but is lethal to beneficials that in turn prey upon them. This caused McLaughlin to stop using treated soybean seed six years ago and he has not lost yield. His threshold determinations are still carried out by walking the field and he relies on sweep net counts to determine if and when to spray. However, after his 2015 success, he has not been tempted to lay down that just in case application. “I am trying again to give all insects, especially the beneficials, a chance to live and thrive in my system,” he said. It’s not just beneficials McLaughlin has integrated. He is also a firm believer in cover crops. Over the last 10 years he has slowly introduced cover crops to all his acres while maintaining the no-till system in place the previous five years. “If you believe that the beneficials can make a difference, give them a chance to work,” he said. “I have more insect life in my fields now than I did 10 and especially 15 years ago.” “If you believe that the beneficials can make a difference, give them a chance to work.” Dave McLaughlin has learned first-hand the value of beneficial insects in his crops. For six years he has not seeded soybean with insecticide seed treatment and said he has not had any real drop in yield. Here, a green lacewing larvae preys on an aphid. Photo:CourtesyofDan Johnson