As a general statement, disease pressure has been lower this year in Iowa than in 2025. However, farmers still have their hands full dealing with disease pressure as familiar threats like tar spot and newer problems such as southern rust are being found in Iowa’s fields.
Michael Fosdick is a Pioneer field agronomist and he tells the Iowa Agribusiness Radio Network about his role in helping farmers identify the biggest threats to their crops year to year.
Although southern rust has not been as widespread across the state of Iowa as it was in 2025, it is still an issue that growers are dealing with in localized instances.
One of the biggest keys that Fosdick says farmers must keep top of mind is that learning from each growing season is important, but no two growing seasons are exactly alike.
That was Pioneer field agronomist Michael Fosdick.
