b'WHEAT MIDGEWheat Midge ForecastingTHE 2021 FORECAST in Alberta called for wheat midge in abundance. But what the annual prediction couldnt take into account is what Mother Nature had in store. Wheat midge is really tied to rain. Areas that received enough spring rain to kickstart development had wheat midge emergence and a really good correlation with the forecasting data, says Tyler Wist, research scientist of field crop entomology with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada in Saskatoon, Sask. Drought conditions throughout most of the Prairies, however, left much of the predicted midge population dormant in the soil. If the rains dont come, the midge doesnt come up out of the ground, explains Wist. A surprising development in some areas was a second flush of the pest later in the season. Second flushes can sometimes happen after another big rain event, he adds. Its like some of them just dont start developing until after a second hit of moisture. Its a mechanism that we need to further explore.Theres also work to be done to better monitor wheat midge emergence and essentially ground truth the annual forecast maps. There is no coordinated monitoring of actual wheat midge emergence to know if the maps and models are giving good predictions, says Wist. With SeCan, I conceived of a networkWheat midge.PHOTO: GILLES SAN MARTINof pheromone traps in their member fields that would have the growers and their agronomists reporting in real time during the 2021 season.What to Expect for 2022Pheromone traps were distributed to volunteers (seedShould fields that expected high midge pressure in 2021 but growers, independent agronomists and SeCan staff) across themissed a timely spring rain, be bracing for dormant midge to Prairies, with the initiative being dubbed Midge Busters. emerge in 2022?Wist cant say for certain. Well know better when we see the Midge Bustersforecast maps, he says, referring to the maps that are typically The traps were placed in wheat fields and insect counts werereleased in January. Researchers collect soil samples in fall done twice per week for one month. Participants enteredthat are the basis for the forecast. They pull the overwintering their trap catches in an online platform so everyone couldcocoons of the wheat midge out of the ground and open them immediately see counts from other areas. Midge enthusiastsup to see if theyve been parasitized by Macroglenes penetrans, could follow along on Twitter under the #midgebuster hashtag.explains Wist. The beneficial parasitoid helps to keep the midge Ultimately, 67 fields were monitored with results showingpopulation in check. When a midge is parasitized it doesnt go midge in all traps with an average count of 50. Some traps hadonto the map because its not viable.very low numbers, while others were as high as 1,350 midge perWhile growers await the maps, they can protect their wheat count, reports Todd Hyra, SeCan business manager for Westernyields and quality by planning to seed Midge Tolerant Wheat Canada. The emergence rates will be correlated with rainfalland following stewardship protocols to keep the technology data to help improve prediction models for the future. viable for future.Hyra adds the take-home message for many was theWist says the Midge Busters initiative has given him a wealth complexity of monitoring an insect that can come in multipleof information that will help his team validate models and flushes. It also reinforced the efficiency and convenience offuture predications. He is eager to build on the knowledge for growing Midge Tolerant Wheat as an effective and sustainablenext year. Stay tuned for Midge Busters II in 2022, he says.solution to a pest that has plagued growers for decades.The Midge Wheat Tolerant Wheat Stewardship Committee50seed.ab.ca'