Vidalia&8212; Concordia Parish farmers have dealt with

a number of problems with this year&8217;s soybean crop besides dry, hot weather.

Concordia Parish Agent for Louisiana State University Agricultural Center Glen Daniels said soybean crops have been plagued this year by stress, fungus and insects.

&8220;It&8217;s been a very tough year for the Louisiana farmer as far as soybeans are concerned,&8221; Daniels said.

Daniels said one of the earliest problems farmers saw with soybeans, because of the dry weather, was stress.

Daniels said he has been seeing soybeans shed their pods early, then try to bloom again instead of maturing naturally.

&8220;This was a result of the cool, dry weather in April and May and later, the hot, dry weather we experienced in June and July,&8221; Daniels said.

Another problem Daniels has seen throughout Concordia, Tensas and Catahoula parishes has been a breakout of Cercospora, a fungus that ruins the quality of the soybean yields.

This fungus, Daniels said, is recognizable by purple coloration on the leaf and stem of the soybean plant.

The fungus causes the bean to foliate earlier than expected and therefore, the quality of the bean crop goes down and will not gain a greater profit at the grain elevators, Daniels said.

Daniels said farmers can prevent this fungus from destroying their crop by spraying fungicide twice during the season. But the fungicide is sometimes too expensive.

&8220;Often farmers will spray once and just try their luck at the elevators. But many times, it&8217;s too late and the quality is already bad,&8221; Daniels said.

Perhaps the worst problem, Daniels said, is an infestation of the Red-shouldered Stinkbug.

According to the LSU AgCenter website, the red-shouldered variety damages the plants after pods start forming by inserting their beak into the pod and sucking out the contents of the bean, resulting in a complete loss of the bean or a delayed maturity.

&8220;Every time there is a bean stung, there is a discount in price at the grain elevator,&8221; Daniels said.

&8220;We probably need a plan for a stinkbug annihilation like we had for the boll weevil and the problems it caused with cotton.&8221;

Daniels said another potential problem the Red-shouldered Stinkbug poses is that it can move from soybeans to different crops, like corn and cotton.

&8220;They are also very tenacious because you can spray for them one week and the very next week they&8217;ll be back,&8221; Daniels said.