This informal report by the Division of Entomology & Plant Pathology is a commentary on insects, diseases, and curiosities division staff encounter on a week-to-week basis. Comments and questions about this report are welcome and can be sent to your respective Inspector.
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Inspector Territories
Angela Rust (Nursery Inspector & Compliance Officer) -
I’ve included a photo of oleander scale on jostaberry. These are armored scales, see this link for a management guide on scale insects.
I also had a nursery with a small outbreak of white-marked tussock moth (Orgyia leucostigma) caterpillars feeding on some crabapple trees. Early instar caterpillars will skeletonize leaves and as they grow larger they will consume whole sections of them. This moth overwinters in the egg stage and eggs are laid in a mass near cocoons. Outbreaks don’t usually require treatment on deciduous trees. However, since damage occurs quickly, outbreaks on conifers can cause extensive damage and warrant control.
Jared Spokowsky (Nursery Inspetor & Compliance Officer) -
A couple of interesting things to note this week. I happened upon a pair of polyphemus moths mating which is always a treat to see. I also happened upon a fairly heavy patch of a type of midrib leaf gall on shingle oaks.
As I have been reporting, I’m seeing more of the ever-present herbicide damage including oaks, redbud, Kentucky coffee trees, and river birch (only river birch is pictured below to save space). I had several comments and questions about herbicide damage from last week so I would point everyone to this document by Ohio State University explaining the issue.
I also only just spotted my first monarch two weeks ago and last week I found my first monarch caterpillar on some of my swamp milkweed. This past winter was the second lowest overwintering count for monarchs in Mexico. I harp on habitat a lot and many folks I talk with have a hard time wrapping their head around pollinator habitat planting and management. It just so happens that there is a pollinator habitat management workshop coming up on Sept. 24 from 8:30 a.m. until 3:30 p.m. in Danville. You can sign up for the workshop at this link.
This informal report by the Division of Entomology & Plant Pathology is a commentary on insects, diseases, and curiosities division staff encounter on a week-to-week basis. Comments and questions about this report are welcome and can be sent to your respective Inspector.
Our Website
Inspector Territories
Jared Spokowsky (Nursery Inspetor & Compliance Officer) -
Scale was the theme for this past week. It’s a great time to look for scale since populations should be high and at this time of year, there should be ample evidence of dieback or sooty-mold present. I found several different types of scale this week including gloomy scale, oystershell scale, and cottony maple scale.
I was also at a nursery with heavy herbicide damage. Even a section of the nursery that was completely surrounded by mature woods had extensive herbicide damage. This particular nursery also does not use any herbicide, which makes me think it’s volatilization as opposed to drift. The mature oaks in the woods were also heavily distorted.
I am going to start including links to bee talks that I recommend. Some of these will be more general talks, while others will cover more specific topics. Here’s the first: Reading the Comb – Randy Oliver
Diane Turner (Nursery Inspector & Compliance Officer) –
I am a sucker for a variegated plant at any garden center; my eye is immediately drawn to the chaotic mix of green/yellow/white. The leaves below stood out to me this week while completing inspections, and I’m going to share a little info about how they are formed in nature. The appearance of leaf variegation on an individual leaf arises because of a lack or void of the green pigment chlorophyll in some of the plant cells. The cell mutation that causes the variegation can either be inherited (genetic) or occur randomly (chimeric).
Plants with genetic variegation will “come true,” and the identified color change will be stable when the plant is propagated; in other words, the color pattern will be passed from plant to plant. Chimeric variegation occurs when some of the genetic code mutates, and you find more than one genotype growing together on the same plant. Leaves displaying a chimeric mutation in nature are difficult to stabilize and will usually die out quickly due to a lack of chlorophyll without human intervention to help them survive.
For more info see this link.
Recognized for their families’ longstanding commitment to agriculture, 103 Indiana farm families were presented the Hoosier Homestead Award at the Indiana State Fair from Indiana State Department of Agriculture Director Don Lamb.
“The Hoosier Homestead ceremony at the Indiana State Fair is a prestigious event for all involved,” said Lt. Gov. Crouch, Indiana’s Secretary of Agriculture and Rural Development. “It is a true honor to celebrate these families for their work and commitment to bettering Indiana agriculture.”
To be named a Hoosier Homestead, farms must be owned by the same family for more than 100 consecutive years, and consist of 20 acres or more, or produce more than $1,000 in agricultural products per year.
Based on the age of the farm, families are eligible for three different distinctions of the Hoosier Homestead Award. They can receive the Centennial Award for 100 years, Sesquicentennial Award for 150 years or Bicentennial Award for 200 years of ownership.
“Keeping a farm operational for 100 years or more is something these families can take great pride in,” Lamb said. “Each of the awarded family farms continues to adapt and evolve through each new generation on the farm to ensure their success.”
Since the program's inception in 1976, nearly 6,200 families have received the award. Often, a Hoosier Homestead farm is easily recognized because most recipients proudly display their awarded sign on their property.
During the ceremonies, six Indiana farms received the Bicentennial Award for 200 years of continuous ownership: the Thornburg-Caldwell-Slack family from Fayette County, the Hodges family from Morgan County, the Bridges-Royer family from Putnam County, the Dale & Donna Hartwell and Ricky W. Hartwell family from Rush County, the Bass-Rhodes family from Shelby County and the James W. Holmes, Jeffrey W. Holmes, Jason M. Davidson family from Tippecanoe County.
The following list includes the August 2024 Hoosier Homestead Award recipients.
County | Award Name | Award Year | Award Type |
Adams | Bohnke | 1897 | Centennial |
Adams | Girod | 1906 | Centennial |
Adams | Kent L. Steiner | 1890 | Centennial |
Allen | Dafforn | 1874 | Sesquicentennial |
Bartholomew | Schroer | 1886 | Centennial |
Benton | Pitts | 1880 | Centennial |
Benton | Pitts | 1911 | Centennial |
Blackford | Schwarzkopf | 1872 | Sesquicentennial |
Blackford | Albert LeRoy Stallsmith | 1904 | Centennial |
Carroll | Boyer-Garrigues | 1923 | Centennial |
Carroll | George & Lois Wallace | 1914 | Centennial |
Cass | Geroge E. Ferguson | 1858 | Sesquicentennial |
Cass | VerBryck | 1895 | Centennial |
Clay | Hofmann (Modesitt) | 1881 | Centennial |
Clay | Hofmann (Unger) | 1865 | Centennial & Sesquicentennial |
Clinton | Dean Walker | 1846 | Centennial & Sesquicentennial |
Daviess | David L. Brown | 1896 | Centennial |
Daviess | Joseph L. Disser | 1919 | Centennial |
Daviess | Fuhrman | 1918 | Centennial |
Dearborn | Murtaugh | 1855 | Sesquicentennial |
Decatur | Manlief | 1873 | Sesquicentennial |
Decatur | Charles & Mary Torline | 1874 | Centennial & Sesquicentennial |
Delaware | Abshire | 1864 | Centennial & Sesquicentennial |
Delaware | C Clifford Green | 1874 | Sesquicentennial |
Dubois | Bartelt-Peters | 1913 | Centennial |
Dubois | Bockting | 1839 | Centennial & Sesquicentennial |
Dubois | Meyer | 1920 | Centennial |
Fayette | Thornburg-Caldwell-Slack | 1824 | Sesquicentennial & Bicentennial |
Franklin | Kuntz | 1916 | Centennial |
Franklin | Miles Homestead Farms LLc | 1874 | Sesquicentennial |
Franklin | Wessel | 1858 | Centennial & Sesquicentennial |
Fulton | Applegate-Crippen-Rock | 1911 | Centennial |
Fulton | Heater | 1874 | Sesquicentennial |
Fulton | Shewman | 1918 | Centennial |
Grant | Grindle | 1852 | Centennial & Sesquicentennial |
Greene | Roudebush | 1918 | Centennial |
Hamilton | Honnold-Muir | 1902 | Centennial |
Henry | Kirklin | 1874 | Centennial & Sesquicentennial |
Howard | Duncan Farm Legacy LLC | 1864 | Centennial & Sesquicentennial |
Howard | J & B Family Farms LLC (53 acre) | 1899 | Centennial |
Howard | J & B Family Farms LLC (80 acre) | 1849 | Centennial & Sesquicentennial |
Huntington | Philip Shafer | 1923 | Centennial |
Jackson | Bell-Alwes-Mellencamp | 1918 | Centennial |
Jackson | Claycamp | 1869 | Centennial & Sesquicentennial |
Jackson | Shoemaker | 1924 | Centennial |
Jasper | Gilmore-Brandenburg | 1895 | Centennial |
Jasper | Wilma Jean Lehe | 1922 | Centennial |
Jasper | Walter | 1873 | Centennial & Sesquicentennial |
Knox | Borgmeier | 1904 | Centennial |
Kosciusko | Messmore-Werstler | 1923 | Centennial |
Kosciusko | Shock | 1866 | Centennial & Sesquicentennial |
LaGrange | Koon-Barroquillo | 1918 | Centennial |
Madison | Haines-Wood | 1854 | Centennial & Sesquicentennial |
Madison | Sears | 1924 | Centennial |
Madison | Thomas A. Tooley | 1913 | Centennial |
Marshall | Stuntz / Bollenbacher | 1869 | Centennial & Sesquicentennial |
Miami | Berglan | 1874 | Sesquicentennial |
Miami | Peter Fisher-John H. Balsbaugh-Raymond E. Mussleman | 1837 | Centennial & Sesquicentennial |
Miami | Gahs | 1874 | Sesquicentennial |
Miami | Patricia Hardwick & Shirley Kerns | 1855 | Sesquicentennial |
Miami | Kranz | 1874 | Sesquicentennial |
Miami | Shewman | 1869 | Centennial & Sesquicentennial |
Montgomery | Cowan | 1834 | Sesquicentennial |
Morgan | Harmon & Nancy Crone | 1836 | Sesquicentennial |
Morgan | Haase | 1905 | Centennial |
Morgan | Hodges (1840) | 1840 | Sesquicentennial |
Morgan | Hodges (1822) | 1822 | Bicentennial |
Newton | Romine | 1874 | Sesquicentennial |
Noble | Harvey and Simon | 1862 | Centennial & Sesquicentennial |
Noble | Zimmerman | 1919 | Centennial |
Posey | Papenmeier | 1923 | Centennial |
Pulaski | Bergdolt | 1899 | Centennial |
Pulaski | Heater | 1872 | Sesquicentennial |
Putnam | Bridges-Royer | 1823 | Bicentennial |
Ripley | Drockelman | 1860 | Sesquicentennial |
Ripley | Miller | 1910 | Centennial |
Ripley | Shorten-Volz-Miller | 1917 | Centennial |
Ripley | Smith | 1868 | Centennial & Sesquicentennial |
Ripley | Wilson | 1923 | Centennial |
Rush | Gray-Eakin | 1835 | Centennial & Sesquicentennial |
Rush | Dale & Donna Hartwell and Ricky W. Hartwell | 1821 | Sesquicentennial & Bicentennial |
Shelby | Bass-Rhodes | 1823 | Centennial & Sesquicentennial & Bicentennial |
Shelby | Kolkmeier | 1905 | Centennial |
Steuben | Libey | 1920 | Centennial |
Steuben | Levi Pocock | 1868 | Sesquicentennial |
St Joseph | Michalski | 1887 | Centennial |
Sullivan | Shields | 1894 | Centennial |
Tippecanoe | James W. Holmes, Jeffrey W. Holmes, Jason M. Davidson (Davidson) | 1824 | Bicentennial |
Tippecanoe | Inskeep-McDole; Gilbert-Dilley; Tishler-Diem | 1877 | Centennial |
Tipton | Meyncke | 1924 | Centennial |
Union | Greenmeadow Farm Inc-Caldwell | 1923 | Centennial |
Vanderburgh | Friedrich Schaefer | 1869 | Sesquicentennial |
Vigo | Chickadaunce | 1913 | Centennial |
Wabash | Daihl | 1873 | Centennial & Sesquicentennial |
Wabash | Kirtlan | 1924 | Centennial |
Wabash | Schuler | 1920 | Centennial |
Warren | George K Kerner | 1872 | Sesquicentennial |
Warrick | Zint | 1902 | Centennial |
Wayne | F. Park Ammerman | 1919 | Centennial |
Wells | Price | 1919 | Centennial |
White | Diemer | 1895 | Centennial |
White | George B. Kilmer | 1916 | Centennial |
White | Otto Vieregge | 1915 | Centennial |
For more information about the Hoosier Homestead Award program, please visit isda.in.gov. Photos from the ceremony are available here.
Lt. Gov. Suzanne Crouch and the Indiana State Department of Agriculture (ISDA) announced today that Indiana food banks will receive a combined total of $2 million to support their efforts in feeding Hoosiers in need.
“Food insecure Hoosiers are some of our most vulnerable and I appreciate the general assembly’s support of these individuals and families,” said Lt. Gov. Suzanne Crouch, Indiana’s Secretary of Agriculture and Rural Development. “This funding will go a long way in supporting 11 food banks that provide the necessary nutrition to food pantries and soup kitchens across our state.”
According to Feeding Indiana’s Hungry (FIH), more than 950,000 Hoosiers, including 1 in 5 children, experienced food insecurity in 2022, the most recent data available. This new data represents a 30% increase in food insecurity over 2021.
“As we have said for nearly four years, our member food banks continue to serve record numbers of Hoosier families. Too many of our neighbors continue to face difficult choices between paying bills and buying groceries. For any Hoosier to be unsure from where their next meal will come is unacceptable,” said Emily Bryant, executive director of Feeding Indiana’s Hungry. “We’re grateful for the support of the Indiana General Assembly, Lt. Gov. Crouch and the Indiana State Department of Agriculture for providing additional and much needed support to our members to help them serve our Hoosier neighbors and our communities.”
Indiana food pantries and soup kitchens are a subsect of food banks. There are 11 food banks which supply pantries and soup kitchens across the state. Each food bank received part of the $2 million in funding, which supplies community food pantries, kitchens, churches and more. This funding will allow food pantries, soup kitchens and other food distribution centers to receive additional food products from the food bank that serves their location.
ISDA Director Don Lamb is proud to help assist our food banks and pantries that feed Hoosiers.
“Indiana farmers are skilled at growing an abundance of safe, reliable food and food banks and pantries have the necessary resources and skills to distribute large amounts of food to help community members in need,” said Lamb. “We are so thankful for the work food banks, pantries, soup kitchens and others do for their communities in helping food insecure Hoosiers.”
The funding was provided by the Indiana General Assembly, as part of its biennial budget. The distribution amounts were determined using The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TFAP) fair share percentages for Indiana, which captures poverty and unemployment levels in each county.
Carmen Cumberland, Executive Director and CEO of Community Harvest Food Bank in Fort Wayne, is excited to be able to support more families.
“Community Harvest Food Bank is humbled and thrilled to receive this bountiful grant of $197,800 from the General Assembly and Indiana State Department of Agriculture. This funding comes when our friends and neighbors struggle to afford rent, car payments and basic needs. Inflation’s impact on daily living has left some families choosing between keeping their car or their house, let alone, figuring out how to get food on their tables. These are people with jobs, families, support networks, and resources who the cost of living has simply outpaced," said Cumberland. "Last week, our Saturday Helping Hands distribution reached a record high of 1,622 families seeking food assistance. Food insecurity is not going anywhere soon, and that’s why these funds are greatly significant in lifting those we love and care about in our community.”
The following list includes the food banks are receiving funding for fiscal year 2025:
- Community Harvest Food Bank – $197,800
- Dare to Care Food Bank – $75,200
- Food Bank of Northern Indiana – $233,600
- Food Bank of Northwest Indiana – $198,800
- Food Finders Food Bank, Inc. – $195,800
- FreeStore Foodbank– $16,000
- Gleaners Food Bank of Indiana, Inc. – $693,200
- Hoosier Hills Food Bank, Inc. – $80,000
- Second Harvest Food Bank of East Central IN, Inc. – $155,200
- Terre Haute Catholic Charities Foodbank, Inc. – $89,200
- Tri-State Food Bank, Inc. – $119,200
Visit isda.in.gov to learn more about the Indiana State Department of Agriculture Department. Visit feedingindianashungry.org to learn more about Feeding Indiana’s Hungry.
INDIANAPOLIS (Aug. 8, 2024) — Today, at the Indiana State Fair the Indiana State Department of Agriculture (ISDA) presented John Baugh, Director of Agricultural Services and Regulations at Purdue University, and Ed Ebert, Senior Director of Market Development for the Indiana Soybean Alliance and the Indiana Corn Marketing Council, with the state’s highest agricultural honor, the AgriVision Award.
Now in its 18th year, the award is presented to individuals who have made significant contributions to the agriculture industry and their communities.
“It was an honor to present John and Ed with the AgriVision Award,” said Lt. Gov. Suzanne Crouch, Secretary of Agriculture and Rural Development. “Their vision has guided the foundation of this great industry, and not just statewide, but nationally. We would not be where we are today without their leadership and commitment to supporting agriculture.”
John Baugh has been a tireless advocate for Indiana agriculture for decades. A steady presence at the Indiana Statehouse for the last 35 years, his impact can be seen on legislation that directly impacts agriculture and rural communities. He has, and continues to work closely with state agencies, including the ISDA, State Board of Animal Health, Office of the State Chemist, and many others, to ensure the laws, rules and regulations passed by the Indiana Legislature are based on both science and common sense.
Baugh is a tireless advocate for Purdue University, Purdue Agriculture and agricultural education throughout the state. Through his efforts, Vincennes and Purdue created joint facilities located adjacent to the Purdue Southwest Agricultural Center in Knox County. Those facilities have enhanced Purdue's impact on agriculture in the region and strengthened the long-standing relationship between the two institutions. Additionally, he played a key role in assisting the college’s efforts to secure legislative support for the new veterinary hospital. Over the years, Baugh has been the lead for lobbying to secure funding to support the Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory (ADDL) in West Lafayette and the Heeke Diagnostic Laboratory located at the Southern Indiana Purdue Agricultural Center (SIPAC) in Dubois County.
Throughout Baugh’s career, he has served as a tireless advocate on behalf of Indiana rural communities. When considering his exhaustive contributions to forming the Indiana Corn Checkoff Law, Indiana Grain Indemnity Fund, rural broadband efforts, chemical applicator licensing issues affecting producers and citizens alike, livestock challenges and agronomic sustainability opportunities, to name a few, Mr. Baugh has proven a reliable source of information for his fellow board members over the years.
“The strength of Indiana’s agricultural industry comes from the dedication, ingenuity and perseverance of Hoosiers and visionaries like John and Ed,” said Don Lamb, director of the Indiana State Department of Agriculture. “Both awardees have dedicated their careers to moving the industry forward, and it was a privilege to honor them today.”
Ed Ebert goes many, many miles to serve the soybean and corn farmers of Indiana. He is always seeking new markets to move tons of Hoosier-grown soybeans and corn to customers both nearby and around the globe. Ebert’s duties are aimed at helping to increase farmer's bottom line. To accomplish those goals, he goes the extra mile – in a big way. Ebert has buyers interested in Indiana’s corn and soy crops and related products on six continents, and he has traveled the circumference of the Earth more times than he can count.
In a typical month, you might find Ebert working on a deal with large scale venues to use high oleic soybean oil in their concessions, promoting food-grade soybeans in Indonesia, promoting soybean oil to the food industry in Korea, educating chefs in Vietnam about U.S. Poultry and Pork, promoting U.S. soy in aquaculture diets in China, promoting chicken, duck and turkey in Colombia, talking container export opportunities with the Ports of Indiana, leveraging contacts to coordinate international trade team visits to Indiana farms, promoting the benefits or ethanol and biodiesel or advising the ISA and ICMC CEO Courtney Kingery about crop yields and bushel prices.
Ebert represents Indiana producers well on a statewide and global stage. In fact, in 2023, he and the Indiana Soybean Alliance and the Indiana Corn Marketing Council engaged with 31 countries representing 57% of the world’s population and 36% of gross domestic product to work on projects to move the pile. He has been an invaluable source of knowledge on international commodity markets and is an asset to all Indiana corn and soybean farmers.
For more information about the AgriVision Award, please click here or visit www.isda.in.gov.
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