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Spotting tar spot disease sooner
Dispatching drones equipped with remote sensing technology in the air and taking smartphone images on the ground, a Michigan State University researcher is helping farmers more quickly predict and quantify tar spot, a disease found in maize crops.
“The fungus that causes tar spot likes cool temperatures and wet leaves,” said Addie Thompson, assistant professor in the Department of Plant, Soil and Microbial Sciences within the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources. “It can spread quickly, causing up to a 50% decrease in crop yields,” said Thompson who was recently awarded a Bayer Grants4Ag $10,000 award to support her research.