“It sounds like the plot of a cheesy 1950s sci-fi movie,” says Delta Farm Press in a story about the rapid spread of the sugarcane aphid, which can cause huge losses in sorghum yields. They are “creatures that don’t need males to procreate” and whose offspring quickly develop resistance to pesticides. The aphid “has spread like wildfire across southern states in just one year.” It has been detected from Texas to South Carolina. Texas and Kansas grow more than three-fourths of the U.S. sorghum crop. In the past three years, Kansas grew an average 43 percent of the U.S. total.
A Texas A&M entomologist says two insecticides are effective in controlling aphid infestations. At a conference in early February, the entomologist said screening trials have identified several sorghum breeding lines with good resistance to the aphid, so in time hybrid sorghum with a natural resistance should be on the market. The University of Missouri says, “The bugs are moving northward from southern states” and may appear in the Show Me state this season.