Flea beetle pressure model aims to narrow scouting focus during canola season

EMILI is scouting canola fields on Innovation Farms powered by AgExpert this season to test the accuracy of Ukko Agro’s pre-commercial flea beetle pressure model, providing the company with feedback on user experience and commercial applicability. 

Flea beetles are problematic pests for canola producers, especially during the seedling stage where damage can lead to uneven height and maturity, reduced seed yield, and elevated chlorophyll content. According to Manitoba Agriculture, “yield losses of about 10 percent are common where flea beetles are abundant even when the crop is protected with insecticides.”

Ukko Agro is a Canadian agtech company that specializes in weather-driven predictive crop growth-stage and pest models. The pre-commercial flea beetle pressure model being tested on Innovation Farms is part of a portfolio of crop growth models and crop disease risk models that can be found in their ForeSite app. 

Ukko Agro’s Foresite app uses integrated and adaptive field modeling to feed information from a farmer’s own network of weather stations to provide accurate information about what is happening in the field. In the past they have also manufactured weather stations, some of which are installed on Innovation Farms, but the company’s focus is on software development rather than hardware.

Their flea beetle model uses weather data to understand the flea beetle’s feeding cycle. It is meant to provide a simple gauge for agronomists to determine which field needs their more immediate attention. The model is growth stage integrated so it turns on at the seedling stage and turns off once the canola plant gets past the four-leaf stage, which is the window where the plant is most susceptible.  

“The model will help direct you to the fields that have the highest pressure or the highest risk activity,” explained Matthies. “It is meant to help agronomists and growers narrow their scouting focus based on fields with the highest potential pressure within susceptible growth stages.”