Maryland Soybeans on the Defensive

By Laura Wormuth

Soybean row crops are a staple of Maryland’s agricultural system, but they are under siege by a growing array of destructive, adversarial pests like beetles and corn earworm caterpillars. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture 2024 state overview, Maryland planted about 495,000 acres of soybeans, and with a value of nearly $200 million to the state’s economy, even modest reductions in yield caused by pests can translate into serious economic losses for growers.

To help farmers defend against these pests, Hayden Schug, Charles County Agriculture & Food Systems Educator with University of Maryland Extension (UME), has released a new scouting field guide for producers to identify pests before they become a problem. The updated publication, called “Common Soybean Pests in Maryland (FS-2025-0759),” is the latest evolution of what began as fact-sheets authored by Galen Dively in the 1980s, and represents the go-to resource for soybean producers in Maryland for more than 40 years. 

“Farmers should read this before the season starts,” said Schug, whose background is in entomology and Integrated Pest Management. “Now is the time that growers should be thinking about these things in preparation for this year’s plantings.”

The new revision of the guide retains the classic pests that producers have fought for decades while updating their biology, seasonal timing, and adding high-quality photography to help identify pests emerging in Maryland fields. “This new publication is meant to be a producer’s first stop,” Schug said. “This resource gives you broad strokes and once you know what you’re dealing with, you can dive deeper into treatment methods.”