URBANA, Ill. – A new online tool farmers and retailers can use to help track, manage and treat insect pests and diseases of field crops is now available free of charge. The Crop Protection Network (CPN; cropprotectionnetwork.org), offered through the combined input and cooperation of land grant universities and extension specialists, is for use by farmers in the United States and Canada. This is according to Boris Camiletti, plant pathologist at the University of Illinois, who was among those collaborating to create the database.

“The CPN involves 397 specialists, 43 U.S. states and three Canadian provinces,” he said.

Using a combination of the website’s tools, producers can see if a disease has been reported in their area, or if conditions have or will be good for it to develop, to make field crop scouting treatment decisions based upon university recommendations. An aspect of the CPN, the Crop Disease Forecasting tool, which is accessible through the main website, uses site-specific weather data to predict past and future foliar disease developments.

“You select your location and dates – for example, say you want to see the weather developments for the last 30 days – then download the weather data for all the different crops you wish to view and the disease such as tar spot or gray leaf spot. This is a tool to determine if the weather conditions are conducive or not for the disease,” Camiletti said. 

“The goal is to create relevant information for farmers to help them protect their crops. To do that we use unbiased, research-based data,” he added. “There are actually three different tools available for farmers, including Crop Lookout (cropprotectionnetwork.org/crop-lookout), just released for this season. You can keep track of how we’re reporting diseases in different counties in the U.S. in real time.”

For example, the CPN’s Crop Lookout tool reported widespread occurrences of tar spot in Illinois corn just a few weeks ago when conditions were more favorable for its spread. A look at the map today would show that tar spot, along with southern corn rot (also referred to as blight or rust), have moved on with the seasonal conditions.

“All during June our station in Monmouth (Warren County), where we have our corn trials, the risk for tar spot was really high,” Camiletti said. “Several counties in the central, north and northwest parts of the state reported incidences of tar spot after the rains in late May and early-mid June. But now, with the hot weather, you can see that the risk is very low.”

Camiletti explained that field trial data are gathered to create efficacy tables and ratings for foliar disease control, encompassing results from “nearly every product available to the marketplace.” Ratings of the products are accessible on the website. A county-level database of insect pests and disease reports is also included.

Camiletti said the tools are designed to complement, not replace, physical field scouting. “It’s still really important to scout the fields to see if you have the disease, and more importantly, to see if the disease is progressing over time,” he said. “If you go to the field one week and see a 2 percent incidence of disease and then the next week see a 15 percent disease incidence, the disease is progressing. Then, depending on your growth stage, you can consider spraying a fungicide.”

Corn at the U of I’s Monmouth test plot was planted near the end of May, according to Camiletti. After early incidences of tar spot, the corn is looking disease-free with no major problems.

The interactive, map-based Crop Protection Network will be updated throughout the growing season by university specialists and research partners, providing reports of diseases, pests, and other agronomic challenges as they develop. Alfalfa, corn, cotton and soybean crop diseases and pests are among those tracked.