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SERVING MANITOBA FARMERS SINCE 1925 | Vol. 75, No. 41 | $1.75
October 12, 2017
Manitoba will see carbon price plan soon The province is waiting for a legal opinion
manitobacooperator.ca
Weathering the swarm Lady beetles were a welcome addition to the field this summer, but the overwintering habits of one non-native species now has some rural residents irked
BY ALLAN DAWSON Co-operator staff / Near Portage la Prairie
BY ALEXIS STOCKFORD
T
he Manitoba gover nm e n t ’s c a r b o n p r i c ing plan will soon be announced. “In the next two to three weeks we should have the constitutional interpretation back and then very soon thereafter, by knowing where we’re at and what Ottawa can force us to do, we’ll be able to come out with our plan,” Premier Brian Pallister said in an interview here Sept. 28 after a groundbreaking ceremony for the new Roquette See CARBON PRICING on page 7»
Co-operator staff
T
hey’re on walls. They’re on ceilings. They’re on cups left in cupboards and anything left outside. If you’re in south-central Manitoba and feel something crawling on your arm, chances are it’s a lady beetle. The annual swarm is nothing new to rural Manitobans during September and October, but populations are particularly hearty this year with an upswing in aphids, the insects’ main source of prey. Aphids were a repeat concern in the province’s weekly insect and disease reports. The pests were noted in cereals, peas and soybeans, with some fields tipping over economic thresholds.
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Many of those concerns centred around central Manitoba. In mid-July, the region noted high aphid levels in cereals, while soybean aphids became a growing issue into August. In late July, counts in fields near Portage la Prairie broke over 250 soybean aphids per plant and some farmers turned to pesticides. By August, the province noted predators were increasing in response, including multicoloured Asian lady beetles, according to Manitoba Agriculture entomologist John Gavloski. The nonnative species is the main culprit in Manitoba’s yearly fall invasion. While there have been no specific counts, Gavloski noted a marked jump in this year’s lady beetle surge. “I don’t think it’s that we haven’t had
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Multicoloured Asian lady beetles search around the outside of a house in south-central Manitoba, looking for a good spot to spend the winter. Photo: Alexis Stockford
high levels of lady beetles the way we now do,” he said. “I think we’ve had those high levels previously, but what’s different is the multicoloured Asian lady beetle, when it comes time to get ready for overwintering, instead of crawling underneath a leaf pile or something like a lot of our native species will, they’re looking for a sort of isolated structure on the horizon to use as an overwintering site.” The species overwinters in cliff cracks and crevices in their native eastern Asia. In the largely flat Prairies,
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however, human structures are often the nearest substitute. “What happens is they congregate in these huge numbers around or on the walls of houses this time of year and they’re looking for, of course, a way that they can get in where they can overwinter, so it becomes very noticeable,” Gavloski said. For rural residents, it’s become a fall tradition, albeit one with mixed feelings. See LADY BEETLES on page 6 »