TODAY’S FARM
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This is really the guts of the network.
“If they want to publish a publication, we try to make sure we have the editing done. Ultimately, there’s a lot of people contributing research and that just makes it better.”
By TOM C. DORAN | Shaw Media AgriNews tdoran@shawmedia.com
CHAMPAIGN — A service that provides unbiased, research-based crop disease and pest management information to farmers and agricultural personnel is now in its 10th year.
The Crop Protection Network is a multistate and international collaboration of university and provincial Extension specialists and public and private professionals that provides free online tools, peer-reviewed publications, continuing education, videos and podcasts.
All of the information from experts is available for free at cropprotectionnetwork.org/.
“We focus mostly on diseases. A lot of pathogens, just like weeds and insects, don’t respect state lines. So, having multiple people looking at problems is certainly of value,” said Daren Mueller, Iowa State University Extension plant pathologist, CPN codirector and Iowa State Integrated Pest Management program coordinator, North Central IPM Center.
Mueller was among the presenters at the recent Illinois Soybean Association’s inaugural Field Advisor Forum at Memorial Stadium in Champaign.
“The value of the work being done locally can’t be replaced, and having that local knowledge is really important. Events like today and what the Illinois Soybean Association brings to the state as far as expertise, that can’t really be replaced, but it can be complemented,” Mueller said.
“We’re not doling out money for research, which is a little different than some of the other national groups, but we’re trying to be a resource for anyone in the nation that wants to get information out, especially if it’s multistate.
“At this point, CPN has input from 387 people across 42 states, and Ontario and Quebec, Canada, that have contributed at some level. It has become pretty widespread.
Serving as directors along with Mueller are Kiersten Wise, University of Kentucky, and Albert Tenuta, Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs. The board is comprised of Extension specialists from across the United States.
Funders include the U.S. Department of Agriculture, North Central IPM Center, South ern IPM Center, National Corn Growers Associ ation, United Soybean Board, North Central Soybean Research Program, Grain Farmers of Ontario, U.S. Wheat and Barley Scab Initiative, and others.
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southern rust, and soybean rust for those farther south. Some of the maps are permanent. Once nematode is in a county, it’s probably there for good. For each map, we try to frame in what it means, what’s the information, why it’s important.
The CPN website provides publications, videos — with field updates, Crop Scout School and CPN TV — podcasts and outreach.
It also provides tools including maps, disease severity and insect defoliation, yield loss calculator, return-on-investment calculator, fungicide efficacy tool and CCA continuing education units.
The yield loss calculator is used to determine the impact of diseases and insects on corn, soybeans, wheat and cotton. The tool is interactive and searchable by time and years, disease and disease group, insect, and geographic area. A severity estimation tool is also featured.
Recently added to the website: fungicide efficacy tool, Bean Binoculars, and corn fungicide ROI calculator.
“Bean Binoculars is an interactive map that displays soybean production issues from across the country as they arise throughout the growing season. The tool went live in July and incorporates state Extension information,” Mueller said.
“Something that we’ve added and spent a lot of time on is maps. This is something important in the plant pathology world because we want to know when things show up, why they show up and where they’re at.
“Some maps are reset every year like tar spot or
“One thing that we continue to drive is continuing education credits for CCAs. The longer webinars that we do, the CPN TV and most of the publications, not the encyclopedia articles, but really everything else, is you can take a CCA quiz at the end and each month we upload it to the Agronomy Society for credits. Those have been increasing each year.”
Growth
The website had 150,000 users in 2024, a 73% increase over the previous year. The corn portion of the website had 47% of the views in 2024, soybeans 29.3%, and wheat 15%.
“A lot of the information being consumed ... last year was related to tar spot. We also had some newer ones, like corn stunt and things like that,” Mueller said.
Cotton and alfalfa were added in the past couple years.
“For the first eight or so years, the publications were mostly from internal groups and then us begging people to write information. Last year was the first year where publications were coming in that we didn’t ask for, which is great. So, we’re starting to hopefully get to tipping point where publications are coming in without a lot of energy on our end and we can just do our job of editing them, making sure they’re peer-reviewed, making sure they get posted in a timely fashion,” Mueller said.
“We have 225 encyclopedia articles. Those are very short articles with a lot of photos. We also have 122 publications, five web books, 113 educational videos and 101 podcast episodes.
“The videos are probably growing the fastest with over a 260% increase in views from the previous year. Videos include research updates, crop scout school and infield updates.
“CPN just finished its third season of podcasts, releasing 35 episodes in 2024 resulting in 4,895 downloads.”
TODAY’S FARM
Everyone’s role: Play it safe
Illinois
Farm Bureau official says ag safety is something farmers can’t afford not to buy into
By MARTHA BLUM | Shaw Media AgriNews mblum@shawmedia.com
ROCK ISLAND — When it comes to ag safety, there’s a lot that everyone on the farm can — and should — be doing: Learn and listen, talk and train, embrace common ground and common sense.
They should also follow women’s example.
Women have the power to be a voice of reason on the farm and it wouldn’t hurt to listen to what they’re saying — take it from another voice of reason.
Rodney Knittel’s entire career has been focused on agriculture, starting as a high school ag teacher and leading to his current role as associate director of transportation and infrastructure for Illinois Farm Bureau, and one thing he’s learned is that patience is a virtue when it comes to playing it safe.
It’s also a virtue that women seem to have more of than men.
“I had males and females in class and the males would get the assignment and do things as quick as they possibly could to get onto the next project,” Knittel said.
“The young ladies would take their time,” he said. “In 18 years of teaching, I don’t recall one time that I did first aid for a young lady in ag class.”
Knittel shared his observations during a presentation in March at the Women in Agriculture Conference organized by IFB at Bally’s Quad Cities in Rock Island.
“We should put more focus on resolving that we don’t have to be one of the most dangerous industries,” Knittel said. “Accidents are going to happen, but almost every accident is preventable.”
Knittel also worked as a compliance and safety manager for a biosolid application company.
“I was the voice of reason for about 50 people and I was responsible to try to reduce workforce accidents,” he said. “That job really opened my eyes.”
Since every farm and business is dif-
ferent and every individual that works there is different, Knittel said, it is important to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses.
“The hardest part is sitting down with the stakeholders to have a conversation,” he said. “The talks aren’t easy and it’s going to take time to get 100% buy-in.”
Sometimes it is best to start with something simple like wearing seat belts, Knittel said.
“If you’re going to mow roadsides or waterways or spray a field with terraces, put your seat belt on,” he said. “That’s something simple, but it can save lives.”
Knittel highlighted several safety tips for farming operations.
Regular maintenance and inspections of ATVs and UTVs is important, as well as proper use of these machines.
“I know of seven deaths because of ATV and UTV accidents last year,” Knittel said. “Six of those seven were kids under the age of 16.”
All young people need proper training for driving tractors and operating farm equipment.
“Because dad and mom can do it, we think our sons and daughters should be able to go and do it, too,” Knittel said. “But we have to train them.”
Safety protective equipment such as gloves, goggles, face masks and ear plugs should be placed in all farm shops.
“If we don’t have the box of safety glasses or rubber gloves readily available, we’re not going to use them,” Knittel said.
“We have to stop going into grain bins by ourselves, without harnesses on,” he said. “We all know someone who has lost someone and it’s tough, but there’s no reason for those deaths.”
If there are two people and they use safety harnesses when going into a grain bin, Knittel said, that will eliminate about 99.5% of the accidents.
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In case of emergency, apply
Farmers can get a cut of $10 billion USDA program to help them offset low commodity prices
By TAMMIE SLOUP | FarmWeek
Applications are open for a piece of $10 billion in economic assistance available through a new USDA program.
The Emergency Commodity Assistance Program (ECAP) provides payments to help farmers mitigate high input costs and low commodity prices from the 2024 crop year.
Authorized by the American Relief Act of 2025, payments are based on planted and prevented planted crop acres for eligible commodities. To streamline the process, Farm Service Agency (FSA) will begin sending pre-filled applications to farmers who submitted acreage reports to FSA for 2024 eligible ECAP commodities. However, farmers don’t have to wait for their ECAP application to apply; they can visit fsa.usda.gov/ecap to apply using a login.gov account, or contact their local FSA office to request an application.
Applications must be submitted by Aug. 15.
For a list of eligible commodities and payment rates, see the graphic with this story. For payment estimates, use the ECAP calculator at fsa.usda.gov/ecap.
Initial ECAP payments will be fac-
SAFETY cont’d from page 21
tored by 85% to ensure total program payments do not exceed available funding. If additional funds remain, FSA may
accidents.
“And by doing tag-out and lock-out when someone goes in a bin, that will take care of the rest,” he said.
“Educate visitors about farm risks and install proper signs for hazards,” he advised. “We have to put up signs in the shop, such as wearing safety eyewear in this area.”
Regular breaks help to prevent fatigue-related
issue a second payment.
ECAP assistance will be calculated using a flat payment rate for the eligible
“I know this is a tough one,” Knittel said. “But I want us to start thinking about whether supper and spending time with the kids is more important, or if there are things that can be done tomorrow or the next day.”
All those working on the farm need to know where to go during emergencies, how to handle emergencies
commodity multiplied by the eligible reported acres. Payments are based on acreage and not production. For acres reported as prevented plant, ECAP assistance will be calculated at 50%.
Eligible producers must report 2024 crop year planted and prevented planted acres to FSA on an FSA-578, Report of Acreage form. Producers who have not previously reported 2024 crop year acreage or filed a notice of loss for prevented planted crops must submit an acreage report by the Aug. 15 deadline.
ECAP payments will be issued as applications are approved, with farmers receiving direct deposits typically within three business days.
Payments are capped at $125,000 if less than 75% of the average gross income of the person or legal entity for the 2020, 2021 and 2022 tax years is derived from farming. Otherwise, the cap is $250,000.
For more information, visit fsa.usda. gov/ecap or visit your local FSA office.
This story was distributed through a cooperative project between Illinois Farm Bureau and the Illinois Press Association. For more food and farming news, visit FarmWeekNow.com.
and how to communicate directions to the farm site.
“Farmers need a support network and resource for stress management,” Knittel said.
“You have the ability and the superpower, whether you believe it or not,” he told the women at the conference. “I ask you to use your voice of reason to help us become better about safety in agriculture.”
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