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AB Ag releases Fusarium video

Apr. 18, 2016 - Alberta Agriculture and Forestry has released a short video on Fusarium to help producers understand more about the disease.

Fusarium graminearum is a hazardous and infectious disease that costs Alberta producers between $3 and $8.7 million annually due to reduced yields and downgrading.

"The effects of Fusarium graminearum on cereal crops in Alberta are devastating," says Michael Harding, research scientist with Alberta Agriculture and Forestry (AF). "So a short video was created outlining how to manage it, in an effort to bring awareness about this important fungal disease."

The short video, "Stop Fusarium Before it Stops You," depicts the fusarium spores as little cartoon monsters running amok in Alberta. The video briefly outlines the causes and symptoms of the pest, and speaks to management practices to help stop Fusarium at the farmgate: "This is everything from selecting healthy seed that has been tested and proven to be free of Fursarium, to utilizing fungicidal seed treatments, to rotating crops, to employing in-crop fungicides, to irrigating at the right time," says Harding.

In 1999, Fusiarum graminearum was added as a declared pest under Alberta's Agricultural Pests Act.

View Stop Fusarium Before it Stops You.

April 19, 2016  By Top Crop Manager