Fusarium Head Blight Infects MB Oat Crops

 

Risk for fusarium head blight in cereal crops was very high this year, although it appears fungicide applications have worked well, as incidences are mostly at low levels.

 

Manitoba Agriculture plant pathologist Sara Bajracharya says crop disease overall this year has been more widespread, although not necessarily as serious. She says fusarium is present at low levels in most cereal crops, including some oat crops.

 

"Oats, in general, are less susceptible than wheat (to fusarium), so generally we don't see a lot of fusarium head blight in oats, but having said that it is possible," Bajracharya. "When you think about a disease, it is always good to think about a disease triangle, and not just previous scenarios. So anytime there is a pathogen present, conducive environments, and a susceptible host is present, it's bound to have an infection."

 

But because the disease incidences are still fairly low, Bajracharya says this indicates fungicide applications this year were effective.

 

Video: Evolution of Beef Cattle Farming

The Clear Conversations podcast took to the road for a special episode recorded in Nashville during CattleCon, bringing listeners straight into the heart of the cattle industry. Host Tracy Sellers welcomed rancher Steve Wooten of Beatty Canyon Ranch in Colorado for a wide-ranging discussion that blended family history and sustainability, particularly as it relates to the future of beef production.

Sustainability emerged as a central theme of the conversation, a word that Wooten acknowledges can mean very different things depending on who you ask. For him, sustainability starts with the soil. Healthy soil produces healthy grass, which supports efficient cattle capable of producing year after year with minimal external inputs. It’s an approach that equally considers vegetation, animal efficiency, and long-term profitability.

That philosophy aligned naturally with Wooten’s involvement in the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, where he served as a representative for the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. The roundtable brings together the entire beef supply chain—from producers to retailers—along with universities, NGOs, and allied industries. Its goal is not regulation, Wooten emphasized, but collaboration, shared learning, and continuous improvement.