A national collaboration to develop disease prediction tools to facilitate improved disease management and protect yield
Presenters: 

• Alison Robertson, professor and Extension Field Crops Pathologist, Iowa State University
• Damon Smith, Vaughan-Bascom Professor in Plant Pathology and Extension Specialist, University of Wisconsin- Madison

The National Predictive Modelling Tool Initiative was established by Congress in 2020 to develop research-based tools to forecast diseases and mycotoxins affecting U.S. crops. The Corn Research Area establishes small plot trials in 10 states and collects disease and environmental data that are used to develop risk prediction models. Crop disease forecasting tools, developed in collaboration with the Department of Entomology at UW-Madison and housed by the Crop Protection Network, are available to farmers, crop advisors and agricultural researchers to enable data-driven decisions.

This seminar is the first of the sessions for INRC's Fall 2025 Iowa Water Quality Research Seminar. Each session will include an INRC-supported researcher, along with a research partner who has been instrumental in a recent project. The presentations will be held the second Wednesday of each month, Sept. 10, Oct. 8, Nov. 12 and Dec. 10, from 3:10-4 p.m.The hybrid seminars, will be presented online and in-person. Attend in person at 1306 Elings Hall (September through November),605 Bissell Road, on the Iowa State campus, and Online only in December.

Sessions are free and open to the public. Register HERE to participate online.

Download a flyer for the fall 2025 seminar series, Working Towards Better Water Quality through Regional Collaborative Research (PDF). For questions, contact malcolmr@iastate.edu.

Sessions are free and open to the public. Presentations will be recorded and posted under Resources and Publications on INRC’s website with speakers’ permission.