Iowa soybean producers can certainly live without another soybean pest, but the Japanese beetle has already caused problems in eastern Iowa. During 2000, Virgil Schmitt, extension crops specialist, reported several fields southeast of Green Island in Jackson County that were sprayed because of heavy defoliation by this insect. This year, Virgil is seeing the beetles again in Clinton, Jackson, and Scott counties. Jim Fawcett, extension crops specialist, has found them in soybean east of Cedar Rapids in Linn County. No significant defoliation has been reported yet this summer, but field scouts should at least be alerted to the presence of this insect.