With the growing season just around the corner, farmers and agribusinesses have a new tool to help them tackle crop management challenges in the Crop Protection Network’s redesigned website.

The website http://www.cropprotectionnetwork.org features timely videos, newsletter and blog articles, featured articles and Twitter updates from CPN partners on important management issues for a variety of field crops as well as the network’s corn and soybean publications. The website also includes an encyclopedia of crop diseases to help farmers identify diseases in their fields using extensive image galleries and keywords to filter results.

“The new website still has all of the great CPN content that users are familiar with, but also adds new resources, and will be updated frequently,” said Kiersten Wise, extension plant pathologist in the University of Kentucky College of Agriculture, Food and Environment, and co-director of the network. "Our goal is to help farmers make crop management decisions with relevant and timely information.”

The network, which began in 2014, is a collaboration of more than 45 extension specialists from land-grant universities and other partnering institutions in the U.S. and Canada. It is directed by Wise and Daren Mueller, an extension plant pathologist at Iowa State University.

“Farmers and agricultural personnel will be provided with information to help with decisions to protect field crops," Mueller said. "Information on wheat management and other crops will be added in 2018, expanding resources for farmers.”

In addition to Wise, UK specialists involved in the network include Carl Bradley and Paul Vincelli, extension plant pathologists; Kelsey Mehl, plant pathology extension associate, and Travis Legleiter, weed scientist.