NDSU to Hold Scab Update Summit

A scab update summit for industry and government leaders will be held Tuesday, April 25, beginning at 10 a.m. The summit will be held at North Dakota State University’s North Central Research Extension Center south of Minot.

“Since the landmark scab epidemic in 1993, scab has caused yield and quality losses for North Dakota’s small-grain farmers at various levels,” says D.C. Coston, NDSU vice president for Agriculture and University Extension.

NDSU economists estimate that North Dakota producers had $157 million in direct losses from scab in 2005, with a total impact of direct and secondary losses of more than $500 million.

“Losses in 2005 could have been much greater if some management strategies for farmers developed through NDSU research and Extension efforts had not been in place,” Coston says.

The summit has three purposes:

The summit will last approximately two hours. Lunch will be served following the session. To register, contact Melanie Ziegler no later than 5 p.m. on Wednesday, April 19. Ziegler can be reached at (701) 231-7171 or e-mail melanie.ziegler@ndsu.edu.

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Source: D.C. Coston, (701) 231-7656, vpag@ndsuext.nodak.edu
Editor: Rich Mattern, (701) 231-6136, richard.mattern@ndsu.edu