Wheat and barley growers know the devastating effects of Fusarium head blight, or scab. The widespread fungal disease contaminates grain with toxins that cause illness in livestock and humans, and it can render worthless an entire harvest. As Fusarium epidemics began to worsen across the eastern United States in the 1990s and beyond, fewer and fewer farmers were willing to risk planting wheat.
People are also reading…
Lauren Quinn is a media-communications specialist for the University of Illinois-College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences. The Department of Crop Sciences is in that college. Visit aces.illinois.edu for more information.





