Got Vole Problems? Your Input Is Needed!

USDA’s Office of Pest Management Policy (OPMP) is requesting your participation in a survey on rodenticide use in outdoor agricultural production.

If you have experienced problems with voles in your soybean production, it is important for you to take part in this survey.

Many in Illinois plant a cover crop before soybeans or are planting soybeans in a no-till setting. Recently, voles have become a frequent pest encountered as their populations have increased due to mild winters or by providing them with a favorable environment to thrive that consists of food (seeds/soybeans) and shelter (vegetation). The key to get this pest under control in your field is to first understand the biology of the voles and use various methods of attack. Scouting for voles before planting is the first step, followed by focusing on cover crop practices, promoting natural predators, as well as other implementing cultural practices. One of the cultural practices that is available to farmers are baits such as Zinc phosphide pellets in furrow, which is a rodenticide used in outdoor agricultural production. A blog about integrated management of voles will be available soon on ILSoyAdvisor.com.

If you have had experience in control of rodents, such a voles, in an outdoor agricultural setting in the past 5 years, USDA’s Office of Pest Management Policy (OPMP) is requesting your participation in a survey on rodenticide use in outdoor agricultural production.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently released a Proposed Interim Decision (PID) for 11 rodenticide active ingredients that proposes to significantly limit or restrict some uses of these chemicals in agricultural production. You can learn more about EPA’s proposed decision here on Regulations.gov.

Why your input matters: It is in everyone’s interest for regulators to understand what practices growers already implement and what practices are most compatible with their operations. Your responses will help inform OPMP’s input to EPA about what options are most workable for growers and why. Previous examples of these efforts include our surveys on malathion use in vegetables and atrazine use in corn/sorghum.

The survey will take approximately 15 minutes to complete and can be saved and re-entered if you are interrupted while responding. Your responses are anonymous.

Please respond to the survey by Monday, January 23, 2023 for your voice to be counted. We greatly appreciate your participation.

To participate in this important data collection effort, click HERE!

About the Author: Stephanie Porter

As Outreach Agronomist for the Illinois Soybean Association (ISA), Stephanie supports research efforts and helps communicate both in-field and edge-of-field research and validation studies to Illinois 43,000 soybean farmers. She also helps lead the demonstration and adoption of conservation agriculture practices and raises awareness of best management and continuous improvement practices for conservation agriculture in Illinois. Stephanie has 23 years of experience that consists of agronomy, conservation, horticulture, plant diagnostics, and education. She has her bachelor’s in crop science and master’s in plant pathology from the University of Illinois. Stephanie is a Certified Crop Advisor and was named the 2018 Illinois Certified Crop Adviser Master Soybean Advisor. She also has experience with corn and soybean pathology research, crop scouting, soil testing, as well as crop consulting. Previously, she utilized her diagnostic training and collaborated with University of Illinois departmental Extension Specialists to diagnose plant health problems and prepare written responses describing the diagnosis and management recommendations as the University of Illinois Plant Clinic.