Fusarium Archives

Fusarium-infected wheat heads in a wheat field near Stockholm, Sask., on July 20, 2024. Photo: Greg Berg

Experts doubt FBI’s claim that crop fungus smuggled by Chinese students is a threat

By Heather Schlitz, Reuters June 9, 2025

A biological sample that a Chinese researcher was accused of smuggling into the United States and that prosecutors cast as a “dangerous biological pathogen” is a common type of fungus already widespread in U.S. crop fields that likely poses little risk to food safety, experts said.

Cereals, News, Reuters

Two Chinese researchers accused of smuggling ‘potential agroterrorism weapon’ into U.S.

Fusarium poses threat

By Jasper Ward, Reuters June 4, 2025

U.S. federal prosecutors have accused two Chinese nationals of smuggling a dangerous biological pathogen that had the potential to be used as an agricultural terrorism weapon into the United States for research.

Columns, Corn, Practical Tips

Corn’s amazing nature

Practical Research: The fusarium we see in small cereal grains is the anamorph of the pink mould seen in corn

By Ieuan Evans May 15, 2025

Consider that if you grow corn after wheat or vice versa and have a wet summer or fall, be prepared for possible outbreaks of pink mould/fusarium head blight in either crop in such a rotation.

Crops, Features, Spring Wheat

Later is better when spraying for fusarium

Some advice to growers still recommends spraying earlier, but researchers say recent studies point in the opposite direction

By Robert Arnason April 10, 2025

Research and field testing in North Dakota indicate the best time to spray for fusarium head blight is when the first flowers appear in the centre of the wheat head.

Fusarium head blight symptoms in wheat. The key target for fungicidal treatments will always be the head tissue.

Cereals, Crops, Features

Managing against fusarium takes a multi-part strategy

Tweaking fungicide timing could provide farmers with better control

By Mark Halsall March 7, 2025

Kelly Turkington, a longtime plant pathologist for Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada in Lethbridge, strongly supports the notion that an integrated approach to managing fusarium head blight (FHB) offers the best chance of success for cereal producers. Even so, Turkington says, in much of Manitoba and northeastern Saskatchewan, that strategy hasn’t always worked as well as […] Read more

Cereals, Crops

More than one way to fight fusarium head blight

An integrated approach, using multiple best practices, can offer better chances of success

By Mark Halsall February 15, 2025

Fusarium head blight has been a stubborn threat to cereal crops in Western Canada since the 1990s. Some years are worse than others, but when the conditions favour this fungal pathogen, fusarium can cause significant losses in yield and crop quality in wheat, barley, oats and corn. The two primary weapons against fusarium — fungicides […] Read more

A calf chows down on sorghum on John Griffin’s south-central Saskatchewan ranch.

Crops, Features, Forages

Sorghum sudangrass may help soil beat back diseases

The crop’s benefits for farmers are piling up, but be aware of some drawbacks, experts say

By Jeff Melchior October 18, 2024

Researchers have found potential in sorghum sudangrass — a hybrid of sorghum varieties — as a fungal disease-fighting, soil-enriching grass for cover crops. Although the research was conducted in Prince Edward Island, some say there may be applications for Western Canada as well — including potential as highly-nutritious cattle feed. Two Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada […] Read more

Cereals, Crops

Back to normal for cereal leaf disease in Saskatchewan

By Jeff Melchior July 25, 2024

Precipitation has more or less returned to normal in Saskatchewan, but that also means cereal growers need to be more aware of leaf and other diseases, says a plant pathologist.

University of Alberta researcher Ehsan Feizollahi helped test the use of cold plasma to decontaminate grains.

Cereals, Crops, Features

Plasma shows promise against fusarium-formed toxins

The fourth state of matter could someday be put to work at a malt house or feedlot near you

By Alexis Kienlen May 27, 2024

Researchers at the University of Alberta are harnessing a high-tech concept to decontaminate grain. They’re using cold plasma, which is created by electrical discharge in a low-pressure gas. One of the most common uses is in fluorescent lighting, which creates light with little heat. Cold plasma is the fourth state of matter, alongside solid, liquid […] Read more

This map from PrairieFHB.ca shows the FHB risk level for the CPSR wheat variety AAC Penhold, as of May 15. The higher-altitude Prairie-wide map was pretty green (low risk) so we’ve zoomed in here on the Medicine Hat and Lethbridge area of southern Alberta. Yellow denotes “moderate” risk; red denotes “high” risk, while black (not shown) would denote “very high.”

Cereals, Cereals Production Guide, Crops

Maps now mark the spots for fusarium risk

Prairie-wide, variety-specific FHB risk maps now available online

By Grainews Staff May 16, 2024

Wheat, barley and durum growers in all three Prairie provinces can now check online whether fusarium head blight may be coming soon to a field near them. We’ve written before in these pages about the development and expected launch of new Prairie-wide fusarium head blight (FHB) risk maps — which have now gone live online […] Read more

U.S. again halts cattle imports from Mexico over flesh-eating screwworms

U.S. livestock: Feeder cattle extend rally to new highs

U.S. grains: Corn rises after setting contract lows on favorable US crop prospects

GFM Network News