Participating in Insect and disease surveys play an important role in the forecasting models

Now that harvest operations are underway farmers are starting to see the impact of insect damage.

Dr. Meghan Vankosky is a research scientist in agricultural entomology with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada.

She says she's hearing a lot about wheat stem sawfly activity.

"It is one that becomes a lot more noticeable towards the end of the season because now the crops are drying down. The larvae that have spent the summer developing inside the wheat stems and are moving closer to the ground and they're starting to cut the stems. They do this in order to create a place where they can overwinter."

She says because it cuts the stem the plants are more susceptible to lodging which can make it more difficult to harvest resulting in yield loss.

Knowing what you're dealing with or the potential of what could be coming your way during the growing season can be key in protecting your crop, yield, and quality.

That's where participating in insect surveys can be helpful, surveys are done throughout the prairies for grasshoppers, wheat midge, and wheat stem sawfly.

Vankosky encourages farmers to contact their provincial reps to give them permission to do the surveys on their land.

"They can go to the Saskatchewan Ministry of Agriculture page to volunteer. We'll be doing all three surveys in Saskatchewan and the same in Alberta. Shelly Barkley with Alberta Agriculture and Irrigation is doing the surveys as well,  and they'll do the grasshopper survey in Manitoba."