It is trying to rain at the moment in Crookston. So far it has only really wetted the sidewalk. The forecast remains, however, hopeful for rain throughout the region. Does that mean that a 5-alarm fire for leaf diseases and or Fusarium head blight is imminent? Just like a single robin does not make spring, a single weather system does not make for widespread and economic levels of leaf diseases or Fusarium head blight. The disease forecasting that is part of the NDAWN system in the tri-state area and the National Fusarium Risk Tool are weather-based models that try to quantify how good the conditions are for individual diseases to start infections. Read more at https://blog-crop-news.extension.umn.edu/2023/06/small-grains-disease-a…

--Jochum Wiersma, Small Grains Specialist, University of Minnesota