Sask Wheat launches fusarium risk assessment maps
Sask Wheat has launched an online tool designed to help farmers manage their fusarium risk. The tool is a series of fusarium risk assessment maps that will be updated daily using data collected from approximately 421 weather stations across Saskatchewan.
“This tool will be the first of its kind in Saskatchewan,” says Sask Wheat Chair Bill Gehl. “We are very excited to be able to offer farmers one more resource to help them plan their fusarium management strategies and ultimately maximize their crop quality and yields.”
The maps have been developed by Weather INnovations Consulting (WIN), a Canadian company that specializes in providing weather-based monitoring and modelling solutions for producer organizations. Map users will be prompted to search maps by their estimated flowering dates in order to get the most accurate risk information. However, farmers are reminded that this tool is just one resource at their disposal when it comes to designing risk management strategies, says Sask Ag’s Provincial Disease Specialist Faye Dokken-Bouchard.
“Farmers are reminded to combine this risk monitoring resource with other best management practices when it comes to fusarium, and use them all as a multi-pronged approach,” she says.