The wet weather of 2024 favored multiple diseases of corn and soybean in Minnesota. After two dry summers, this highlighted the many risks that diseases pose for corn and soybean when conditions are conducive for disease. This presentation will highlight major diseases that occurred in corn and soybean this year, with an emphasis on the corn diseases southern corn rust, tar spot, and northern corn leaf blight, and the soybean diseases sudden death syndrome, brown stem rot, Rhizoctonia root and stem rot, and Phytophthora rot. Not only will this session summarize key information about these diseases and their risks but will discuss future prospects for them in Minnesota.

Speaker: Dean Malvick, University of Minnesota

Biography: Dr. Dean Malvick is an Extension Specialist and Professor of Plant Pathology at the University of Minnesota in St. Paul. His responsibilities include developing and delivering educational extension programs and conducting problem-solving and discovery research focused on the biology and management of corn and soybean diseases. Previously, he was an Assistant Professor with similar duties at the University of Illinois, and for several years he worked as a research pathologist for a seed company. Dr. Malvick received an MS degree in Botany and Plant Pathology from Oregon State University, and a PhD in Plant Pathology from the University of Minnesota.