Field Crops Plant Pathology

 

Field crops are extremely important to Wisconsin’s agriculture industry, with an economic value of over $4 billion!  Here are some interesting facts:

Corn for grain:  In 2005, Wisconsin’s corn grain crop was valued at just over $800 million…today, that number is over $2.6 billion! Interestingly, the number of acres harvested has remained steady at 2.8 to 3.3 million acres during that time.  A combination of higher commodity prices and higher yields in recent years has led to this increase:  2010 brought record yields while in 2011 total production was at record highs.

Corn for silage: As one of the nation’s top producers of corn for silage, the number of acres harvested each year has ranged from 750,000 to 875,000, with average yields of 16 to just under 20 tons per acre.

Soybean:  As with corn, soybean production and value in the state has changed dramatically over the past few years.  In 2005, the harvested value of Wisconsin’s soybean crop was just under $400 million.  In 2011, the value of the harvested crop was almost $1 billion! Like corn, a combination of high commodity prices and record production has led to the dramatic increase in value and economic benefit to our growers.

Alfalfa hay: Another important field crop, alfalfa hay production is valued at approximately $400 million from production on 1.15 million harvested acres.

Winter wheat:   Wisconsin was once the nation’s leader in wheat production.  While that was many years ago, winter wheat remains an important crop in the state:  180,000 – 360,000 acres were harvested annually between 2005 and 2011, bringing $30 to 125 million in economic value.

The diversity and economic value of Wisconsin’s field crops requires a good understanding of integrated management practices for field crop pests and diseases.  Since 2007, we have seen emerging issues with anthracnose of corn, ear rots in corn,  Sclerotinia stem rot, brown stem rot and sudden death syndrome in soybean, Fusarium head blight and powdery mildew in wheat, and Aphanomyces root rot in alfalfa, to name a few.

The goal of this website is to provide stakeholders the best and most up-to-date information on the diseases of field crops and how to manage them.  We hope you find the information posted here helpful  for improving production!

Department of Plant Pathology, University of Wisconsin-Madison
2012

Economic data source: USDA-NASS