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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.
Building better beans for the future
As climate change threatens global food security, researchers at Michigan State University are building better beans crucial to human nutrition by tapping into the genetics of the more heat-resistant tepary bean.
The tepary bean (Phaseolus acutifolius A. Gray) is a sister of the common bean which includes kidney, pinto and navy beans. “The common bean is the number one source of protein and nutrients for many people living in Central America and Africa,” said Robin Buell, a professor of plant biology in MSU’s College of Natural Science and former director of the Plant Resilience Institute.