BASF is promoting a new corn rootworm insecticide as another “tool in the toolbox” to battle one of the ag industry’s most difficult pests that continues to grow more tolerant of current management practices.

At a showcase plot tour this summer at the BASF Story City Research Farm, more than 100 growers and dealers learned from BASF experts about innovative tar spot and soybean cyst nematode treatments, down-the-road herbicide developments and seed treatment advancements.

A hot topic was improvement in corn rootworm regimens and BASF’s Nurizma insecticide, which employs a new mode of treatment utilizing the active ingredient Broflanilide. Initially developed to treat wireworms in wheat fields, Broflanilide has been found equally effective in corn rootworm management, said Kurt Maertens, tech service representative with BASF.

“There’s nothing else like this in the market for corn,” Maertens said. “It’s lights out on wireworms … and an...