On September 11, 2024, ICCON was joined by Christine Elliot, PhD candidate in the insect ecology laboratory at Purdue University. Christine led the group through a discussion on the importance of insect populations to the agriculture industry focusing on three points –
- Why should we conserve insect biodiversity in agroecosystems?
- How to conserve insect biodiversity
- What insect conservation can look like
In agriculture, discussions on the topic of insects generally center around the damage caused by a range of pest species and how best to prevent crop damage or control the insects when damage is occurring. Elliot’s work focuses on the benefits that non-pest species bring to agricultural systems and how we can better understand the services they provide. Things like pollination, nutrient cycling, and pest control are often overlooked in industrial row crop agriculture. However, if we can better understand the biology of the insects in our fields we can create systems and strategies to capitalize on these insect services and provide real economic benefit in the form of cost savings.
Insect pollination is of particular importance for specialty crop farmers because native pollinators are often better at pollinating crops like watermelons and tomatoes. The payoff is better fruit set and better quality of the final product.
Nutrient cycling is a term we often use when describing benefits of cover crops and improved soil health. Insect populations also play a critical role in this process. Some insect species will feed primarily on dead plant and animal residues to help begin the process of cycling those nutrients back into the soil system where additional species microorganisms can continue the process. Plant residues frequently need to be shredded or sized down by insects before the microbiome can begin it’s part of the process. Beyond the chemistry of the nutrients, many insects also burrow in the soil and help to engineer the soil structure and enhance water holding capacity.
Insects also provide some natural pest control in the form of predation of other insects and even feeding on weed seeds in some situations. Integrated pest management has been proven to be the best management approach to managing pest species in crop production. Natural predation helps to reduce the need or frequency for insecticide applications. Scouting should always be utilized to monitor insect species and pest pressures. Not finding many pest species may mean that the natural predation relationships are keeping them at levels that are not high enough to trigger economic thresholds for insecticide applications – in other words the insect control can be free!
Christine also likes to highlight many of the additional benefits that extend beyond agriculture. Insects are a vital food source for many higher species like birds and bats. Conserving insect species enhances the habitat and biodiversity throughout the ecosystem.
From a farming perspective, field management techniques such as reduced tillage, cover crops, and insect habitat set asides can all be utilized to enhance insect populations and maximize the benefit that those populations can bring. For her PhD research, Elliot is studying how various in-field management systems are impacting the diversity of species and overall populations of insects in 25 fields across Indiana, Illinois, and Iowa. Based on her scoring system, the research is pointing towards the conclusion that with more regenerative farming practices in place (cover crops, no-till etc.) the numbers and diversity of species tends to increase. In other words, more regenerative practices means more beneficial insects.
A lively Q & A session followed the presentation which offered additional insights and learning for our audience. ICCON extends a big thank you to Christine Elliot for sharing her research and insights into he importance of insects to sustainable agricultural systems. We hope to continue to follow her research and learn more once her research is completed!
Christine Elliot’s full presentation can be viewed on ISAP’s YouTube channel. ICCON will take a break and there will be no call in October. Happy harvest and cover crop planting! We will resume in November. Register for upcoming ICCON call here. If you are interested in joining the Illinois Cover Crop On-Farm Network to learn about new research and hear from cover crop specialists across the Midwest, please join our google group by sending an email to hvanbeck@farmland.org.
