Collecting and submitting wheat grain samples as part of the national Karnal Bunt survey is necessary to continue the export of Kansas wheat.

Wheat samples will be taken on a two-year rotation in counties with over 1 million bushels of wheat from grain storage facilities. Every 2 years, samples will have been taken from the wheat producing counties that produce at least 1 million bushels from the state. Harvest acreage numbers for the year will be rechecked every 2 years. There is one four-pound sample taken for 1 million bushels per county. Funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

This survey will take place at shipping hubs, such as container storage and transfer yards, inland ports, rail depots and rail yards and parks which have suitable hosts which are a pathway for exotic plant pests that could be introduced and establish.

The survey will entail trapping 65 locations. Twenty-four of the 65 will have the oak pest traps included in the trapping. Pests to be surveyed for are:  Spongy moth, Hokkaido gypsy moth, Japanese gypsy moth, Okinawa gypsy moth and White-winged gypsy moth, nun moth, and rosy moth.  The 27 locations containing oak will also be surveyed for oak ambrosia beetle and oak processionary moth.  At every location and within the county.

USDA funded survey

Kansas Department of Agriculture has been conducting a thousand cankers disease, or more specifically a survey for the fungal disease vector, walnut twig beetle. Our walnut twig beetle survey is funded by United States Department of Agriculture-Animal & Plant Health Inspection Service’s Plant Protection Act Section 7721 Funding.

Walnut twig beetle surveys involve the implementation of a species-specific pheromone baited Lindgren funnel trap.

In 2024, Kansas Department of Agriculture will continue its walnut twig beetle survey in Kansas.

USDA funded survey

In 2021, boxwood plants were shipped to five Kansas residences from a Canadian nursery with a previous box tree moth (BTM) infestation. KDA will revisit two sites in Johnson and Douglas County that are at a higher risk for BTM establishment and conduct a second season of trapping.

Trapping for BMSB will continue this year. Approximately 25 BMSB traps will be deployed across the eastern and central regions of the state.

In collaboration with the Kansas Forest Service, KDA will set trap trees in the southeastern region of the state to monitor for emerald ash borer. Selected ash trees will be girdled in the spring and the bark peeled in the fall to assess the presence of larvae.

Trapping for Japanese beetle will continue this year. While the beetle’s presence in the state is extensive, continued monitoring will reveal the extent to which the beetle will invade the western half of the state. Approximately 20 Japanese beetle traps will be deployed across the state.

A delimiting survey will take place in Riley County after a single, male spongy moth was captured in a monitoring trap this past summer. KDA will lead this survey with USDA-APHIS assisting.

• 46 western half of the counties
• 193 samples planned, 174 taken
• Sampling occurred June 20 – July 17, 2023
• No karnal bunt found
• USDA funded survey

• 19  southeastern counties, 68 locations
• Started May 18, 2023
• Ended October 4, 2023
• No walnut twig beetle found
• USDA funded survey

• 14 counties, 53 locations (28 with oak)
• Surveyed from May 15 - November 15, 2023
• Butler, Cloud, Dickinson, Geary, Harvey, Lyon, McPherson, Ottawa, Pottawatomie, Republic, Riley, Saline, Sedgwick, Wabaunsee
• One spongy moth (Lymantria dispar dispar) in Riley county 
• Tree-of-heaven: 103 positive locations found in 34 counties
• USDA funded survey

• 10 traps in 6 counties
• Found in Jefferson county
• 7 counties recorded for finds for stink bug

Traps trees in Cherokee County revealed zero new detections. However, the Kansas Forest detected the beetle in Franklin County for the first time. Emerald ash borer is now recorded in 13 counties.

22 traps were deployed across 19 counties. The beetle was detected in Cloud, Clay, and Allen County for the first time. Japanese beetle is now recorded in 50 counties.

Delimiting surveys at two locations in Johnson County revealed zero new spongy moth detections. This survey was in response to two male moths found in USDA-APHIS monitoring traps in 2022.

In Riley County, a KDA monitoring trap detected one male spongy moth. Follow-up surveys will check for additional moths, if any.