I have witnessed steady progress in understanding and managing Fusarium head blight (FHB) and mycotoxin contamination since the 1980s. My context is soft winter wheat and malting barley as rotational cash crops in the Northeast. Highly susceptible varieties are no longer planted and varieties with moderate resistance are readily available to growers, yet there is still risk of deoxynivalenol (DON) contamination above purchase limits in our wet, humid climate. Anthesis-timed applications of effective fungicides to suppress FHB, DON, and flag leaf fungal diseases has become routine. We documented the first isolate of Fusarium graminearum in North America with resistance to a triazole fungicide, so we are vigilant for resistance development in regional pathogen populations to all fungicides that are being applied. We tested potential biofungicides and other alternatives to synthetic fungicides but never identified a consistently efficacious product for use by the growing number of organic small grain producers in the state. My group has had a special interest in the epidemiology, aerobiology, and population biology of F. graminearum. A multi-year, multi-site experiment with several collaborators in the U.S. and Canada provided field-based, quantitative evidence of long-distance atmospheric dispersal of Fusarium graminearum ascospores. The results allowed us to estimate that, on average, approximately one-third of spore inoculum for FHB in a wheat field came from within-field sources (i.e., overwintered corn residue) and two-thirds of the inoculum came from atmospheric deposition of spores originating outside of the field. New York is an excellent place to study pathogen populations with overlapping populations NA1, NA2, and NA3 occurring along North-South and East-West clines.  We demonstrated the presence of four mycotoxin-producing chemotypes in the state (15 ADON, 3 ADON, NIV, and NX2). Populations in regions under intensive crop cultivation were predominately 15 ADON genotypes; while populations where agriculture was sparse showed a greater proportion of 3 ADON and NX2 genotypes. We postulated that populations on non-cultivated grasses influence the population structure in regions with limited agriculture and showed that Fusarium is widely present in the inflorescences and stubble of native grasses and can cross-infect cereal crops. Our current research emphasis is on Fusarium spp. and mycotoxin contamination of barley grain for malting.  While F. graminearum and DON predominate, were have documented great species and toxin diversity across alpha- as well as beta-trichothecene contamination in barley grain, suggesting the need for broader screening of mycotoxins to assure safety of barley-based  foods and beverages.