A few key variables merged to make 2004 an exceptionally quiet year for many of Wisconsin’s leading field crop pests. Chilly spring temperatures and an unprecedented statewide average rainfall of 7.64 inches in May made it difficult for potential insect populations to fully develop. Migratory species, like the black cutworm and potato leafhopper, arrived to find the wettest spring in more than 100 years. Below-normal temperatures continued to slow crop development while the surplus of precipitation left fields saturated through June. Together these factors drastically reduced insect populations. As a result, European corn borers were practically nonexistent this fall and soybean aphid densities were at their lowest levels since being detected in Wisconsin in 2000. Following are the results of DATCP’s insect surveys from 2004, a summary of last summer’s pest insect trends, and an outlook for pest conditions in 2005.