As the growing season ramps up, grain producers have a new set of free educational tools that can help them better protect their crops from diseases.  

The Crop Protection Network, an international network of Cooperative Extension specialists and public and private professionals, has released a new web book and updated their fungicide efficacy tables for corn, soybeans and wheat.  

“We really strive to promote smart, safe use of fungicides including best management practices based on our current collective knowledge,” said Kiersten Wise, co-director of the Crop Protection Network and extension plant pathologist in the University of Kentucky College of Agriculture, Food and Environment.  

Fellow UK extension plant pathologist Carl Bradley is an active leader in the group and serves on its executive committee.  

The web book, Fungicide Use in Field Crops, explores the importance of fungicides to crop yields as well as their implications for human health, economics and the environment.  

“The new web book covers everything from the basics of fungicides and how they work to specific information on optimizing fungicide application for economic returns,” Wise said. 

Certified Crop Advisors can earn continuing education units by reading the web book and completing an online quiz. The book is available online at https://bit.ly/3njWUHD.  

Each year, the Crop Protection Network updates the fungicide efficacy tables based on university research of how each fungicide performs against specific diseases that target corn, soybeans or wheat. The group also has a seed-applied fungicide guide for soybeans.  

“These resources are very applicable to Kentucky growers because they contain the results of research conducted in fields at the University of Kentucky under similar growing conditions as their farms,” Wise said. 

The fungicide efficacy guides are available on the Crop Protection Network’s website at https://cropprotectionnetwork.org/resources/publications.