Identifying aphanomyces in a lentil or pea crop is just the first step in determining what to do next. As we saw in this video, farmers in Montana and North Dakota are facing similar pressures to other pulse-growing regions in being forced to extend rotations in order to avoid the worst of the disease.
But the idea of having to grow the most profitable crop for an area only 10 per cent of the time versus 50 per cent of the time just doesn’t sit well with agronomist Jeannie Rude. She explains in this video, filmed on the farm of Blake Rasmussen, near Plentywood, Montana, that research is digging into how to predict the incidence and severity of aphanomyces.
Rude says that the Montanta experience is teaching them plenty of things, like how prevalent and impactful compaction can be in long-term no-till fields, and how soil testing for the disease is just not up to par with what’s truly useful for farmers and agronomists trying to make better decisions on disease management.
Rasmussen adds too that the management of this disease can’t and won’t be any one thing, it must be a multi-pronged attack from several angles.
This video was made possible with support from North Dakota State University, Montana State, Pulse Crops Working Group and the National Institute of Food and Agriculture-USDA through the North Central IPM Center. For more information on this research, visit PulsecropsIPM.org.
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