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Pests

What’s the deal with pest resistance?

Pests – insects, disease and weeds -- are a regular part of life. For large areas, our pest removal practices have included spraying safe pesticides or relying on plant genetics to manage them. But many pests can reproduce quickly and often, allowing them to evolve and develop tolerance to some of our easiest, cheapest and most effective management tools. Some pests are completely tolerant to some pesticides. When this occurs, it is called pest resistance, because they can now resist and survive a specific management tactic that previously controlled them.

Pest resistance is a natural process. However, when it comes to something as valuable as our food and when there’s no easy way to fight a pest, it can lead to yield reductions and increasing costs. Farmers, landowners, scientists, private businesses, and groups of individuals are finding ways to preserve our management tools, prevent pest resistance, and develop management strategies for already resistant pests. 

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What is the Iowa Pest Resistance Management Program?

The Iowa Pest Resistance Management Program is a grassroots, collaborative effort to protect Iowa crops from costly pest resistance that threatens our crop production and our state’s economy. The program is made up of individuals and groups representing all parts of the Iowa community, including farmers and landowners, small and national businesses, scientists, researchers and state regulators. Together, these groups and individuals have leveraged their resources, expertise and time to help inform the public about pest resistance, find new pest management strategies and encourage public support and adoption of these practices.

How can you get involved?

The Iowa Pest Resistance Management Program (IPRMP) was designed for you to get involved. The program features four pilot programs across the state that are working to combat various types of pest resistance. These include: Managing Western Corn Rootworm in Northeast Iowa; the Harrison County Pest Resistance Management Project in Southwest Iowa; Managing Soybean Aphid in Northwest Iowa; and Managing Herbicide-Resistant Waterhemp in Story County. To learn more about the IPRMP and the pilot programs, check out the Q&A here. To learn how you can lend your support or develop your own community project, please email isuipm@iastate.edu.

IPRMP Questions and Answers

Click here to learn more about the IPRMP. 

Version 1 of the IPRMP is here

IPRMP Introduction--Webinar Recording

2022 Iowa Pest Resistance Management Workshop

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Iowa Pest Resistance Management Plan Unveiled

January 30, 2017

Iowa Pest Resistance Management Plan logo

DES MOINES – Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Bill Northey, Iowa State University College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Associate Dean John Lawrence and Iowa farmer Larry Buss of Logan today announced the release of the Iowa Pest Resistance Management Plan. A video of the announcement is available here.

Version 1 of the IPRMP is an Iowa-specific plan that seeks to engage farmers on the issue of pest resistance management with the goal of keeping technology and tools such as pesticides, seed treatments and biotechnology products and native traits available and effective.

Iowa State University Extension and Outreach

Iowa State University Extension and Outreach helps carry Iowa State’s land-grant mission beyond campus, to be the university that best serves its state. Our core purpose is to engage citizens through research‐based educational programs, increasing the ability of Iowans to make informed decisions by applying relevant, needs‐driven resources, to create significant impact in our state. ISU Extension and Outreach is focused on feeding people, keeping them healthy, helping their communities to prosper and thrive, and turning the world over to the next generation better than we found it.

North Central IPM Center

The North Central IPM Center works to ensure coordination of efforts and resources to enhance IPM development and adoption for production agriculture, natural resources, recreational environments, and residential and public sites.

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