Haxtun farmer testing nature-based way to manage costly corn pest

Although Anderson Wheat Farms is primarily a certified wheat seed producer, Dan Anderson notes that "corn is still king" in Colorado due to the state's number of dairy, beef and livestock farms and three ethanol plants. Corn represents about 35 percent of his farm's revenue stream, so Anderson is taking steps to protect that crop from its most economically-damaging pest, corn rootworm.

Anderson, who farms with his son Dusty, brother Dave, nephew Ryan Kanode, and son-in-law Reid Ernst, has seen the CRW resistance-treated corn they plant become less effective. In 2022, after learning about persi...