Farmers and agronomists in Western Canada now have a new tool to help battle crop diseases.
The Prairie Crop Disease Monitoring Network (PCDMN) recently launched a new website. The site, prairecropdisease.com, aims to provide farmers with timely information about diseases of concern as well as management strategies.
“We are really excited to be launching this new website,” said project lead Kelly Turkington, plant pathologist at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada in Lacombe, Alta., in a press release. “The goal of the network has always been to provide important and timely information to growers and agronomists.”
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Why it matters: The disease website echoes a similar one-stop-shop for Prairie weed information, prairieweeds.com, which launched in late May.
The PCDMN is a Prairie-based field crop disease monitoring program composed of field crop pathologists and researchers from Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Manitoba Agriculture, the Saskatchewan Ministry of Agriculture, Alberta Agriculture & Irrigation and Prairie-based universities.
In the same release, Western Grain Research Foundation executive director Wayne Thompson called the initiative a “valuable resource for farmers, agronomists, and scientists.”
“We are proud to have funded the development of this new website,” he said.
The program is modelled after the Prairie Pest Monitoring Network (PPMN) for insect pests and beneficial species. It also ties in with the Prairie Weed Monitoring Network (PWMN), which also launched a new website in recent weeks.
“With this launch, WGRF has successfully developed websites for the three major pest monitoring networks in Western Canada—insects, weeds, and disease,” said Thompson. “These networks play a crucial role in providing the information needed to anticipate and manage major crop threats.”
The website includes risk maps, scouting tips and in-season updates, which are designed to alert subscribers to crop disease risks and management.
The site enhances the functionality of the existing PCDMN blog, Turkington noted.
“This new website will greatly improve our communication and engagement, ensuring that stakeholders have access to the latest research and disease management strategies,” The AAFC scientist said.
In addition to AAFC and WGRF, the initiative got support from commodity groups like Alberta Canola, Alberta Grains, Alberta Innovates, Manitoba Crop Alliance, Manitoba Pulse and Soybean Growers, Manitoba Canola Growers, Saskatchewan Pulse Growers, the Saskatchewan Wheat Development Commission and the Prairie Oat Growers Association. Other supporters included Alberta’s RDAR (Results Driven Agriculture Research), Sask Canola and the Saskatchewan Ministry of Agriculture.
