Oh The Poor Soybean!

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Kudzu_in_South_Carolina.JPG

It just never stops for these big agriculture mono-crops does it?
The kudzu bug has moved its life cycle into the soybean fields.  It showed up in 2009 and is no doubt natures attempt to put the kudzu epidemic back into balance.

Evidently kudzu is not the only legume that this insect can feast on.  Isn't it interesting that it rode in on the coat tails of an overcrowded, invasive ecosystem and has now moved into another?

Here is another thought.  Keeping the Kudzu in check through browsing would have been a good start to keeping this problem at bay in the first place.  Kudzu moved in and took over because there is nothing to put it in check.  An unbalanced ecology allowed it to take over.  It is the same reason Himalayan Blackberry has taken over portions of the Pacific Northwest.

Keeping your landscape healthy and increasing biodiversity within farming systems are the only way to create the resiliency needed to absorb shocks like this.  We just don't seem to be getting the hint.  No doubt there will be a whole new wave of chemical solutions from our friends in the agriculture industry to solve this most recent problem.  The insects and pests will then adapt and and ever increasing measures will be necessary to control them.  It is an inevitable and destructive outcome.

Invasive kudzu bugs pose greater threat than previously thought

Update: Tracking the Kudzu bug in Maryland

Since I last wrote about this there have been some updates.  The original thought was that the Kudzu bug would be relegated to the Southern states.  The reason is that it has several generations in its annual life cycle.  Normally, generation A lays its eggs on Kudzu and the larvae move to soybeans when they are mature.  Generation A then leads to generation B which is able to feed exclusively on soybeans.  This means that the kudzu bug should be relegated to where kudzu grows.  The problem they have discovered is that this is not a necessary part of the equation at all.  The kudzu bug only uses kudzu because it PREFERS it.  Experiments show that multiple generations can live entirely on soybeans without kudzu being utilized at all.  We should keep an eye on this for what happens in the immediate coming years.  It is amazing how quickly insects can adapt when an available food source is staring them in the face.