In this episode, I hope to give you a sense of how our agricultural community responds to emergent agricultural pests, with a focus on the activities of BC’s Ministry of agriculture.

Later on in the episode, you’re going to hear a conversation I just recorded with Susanna Acheompong, an extension entomologist with the BC Ministry of Agriculture based in Kelowna. Susanna spends a lot of her time focused on the detection, monitoring, impact, and management of emergent agricultural pests in the southern interior, and she joined me to give us an update about two pests in particular: the western yellow striped armyworm and the western corn rootworm.

My interest in this topic began when I found an emergent pest on my farm in Armstrong. I had recently read a bulletin about the detection of the western corn rootworm in the North Okanagan, and lo and behold, I found a couple of specimens in my own corn crop that October. I reported my discovery to BC Ministry of Ag Extension Agrologist Susanna Acheampong (Susanna.Acheampong@gov.bc.ca), and that led to sitting down for a couple of interviews with her, a year apart.

BC Ministry of Ag Bulletin on Western Yellowstriped Armyworm

BC Ministry of Ag Bulletin on Western Corn Rootworm