Provincial and federal researchers are teaming up this spring to survey a new pest in southern Alberta's rapidly expanding pea and legume crop acreage. The pea leaf weevil, a serious pest of pea and other legumes in the United States and Europe was first reported in Alberta in 1997.
Numbers appear to have increased considerably since then.
The survey will determine the extent of the infestation. The weevil was first found near Lethbridge in 1997. More weevils were recovered last year in research plots at Lethbridge, in a field of peas east of Lethbridge, and in a field of peas near Claresholm. In previous years when producers had problems with weevils in their pea crops, they may have thought it was sweet clover weevil because the two weevils look similar and cause the same type of damage in the same crops. It would be an easy mistake to make.