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Tar spot top of mind for many farmers in 2025

A field agronomist with Burrus Seed says tar spot is on many corn farmers minds heading into 2025.

Dana Harder, who’s based in Missouri, says the disease continues its spread across the Midwest.

“We saw it pop up earlier than anticipated, so we saw it show up in June.”  He says, “If it’s showing up earlier, we want to be proactive and keep it on the front burner when it comes to managing tar spot.”

He tells Brownfield hybrid selection and fungicide use are the best ways to protect the crop.

“We are seeing improvement in hybrid ratings to tar spot.”  He says, “Having a good product that’s the starting point, then tracking where the disease has been reported can give you a good indicator that maybe I need to be more proactive with fungicide use.”

Harder says the timing of infection and timing of fungicide application impact the disease’s severity.

“2023 was probably the sentinel year for tar spot coming in Missouri.”  He says, “Some geographies where we were not as proactive, we saw some significant yield losses.  There’s areas where if it’s coming in early, you can see a double fungicide pass come into play.  All guys are looking for it out there in their fields.”

He says tar spot is most prevalent in cooler and wetter growing seasons.

AUDIO: Dana Harder – Burrus Seed

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