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Delivery of Risk Assessments for Potato Late Blight in Oregon Chain

Published by the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers, St. Joseph, Michigan www.asabe.org

Citation:  Pp. 548-554 in Proceedings of the World Congress of Computers in Agriculture and Natural Resources (13-15, March 2002, Iguacu Falls, Brazil)  701P0301.(doi:10.13031/2013.8379)
Authors:   Cedric A. Shock, Clinton C. Shock, Lamont D. Saunders and Lynn Jensen
Keywords:   information delivery, decision support, Phytophthora infestans, Blitecast

Potential potato late blight (Phytophthora infestans) epidemics are being predicted over a large geographic area of Oregon, USA, by an automated network. The predictions are reaching growers through the world wide web and e-mail. Instruments monitor field conditions starting at potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) emergence each season. Eight to ten Oregon potato fields over a 400 km reach are automatically monitored for temperature, relative humidity, and leaf wetness in the plant canopy. This data and rainfall data are recorded every 10 minutes by remote, in-field data loggers with cellular phones. The data are collected by a computer at the Malheur Experiment Station that automatically connects to the data loggers every day. A computer model uses the data to estimate real time late blight risk. These estimates are updated and posted to a web site 5 times a week. Growers and fieldmen receive the estimated risk by e-mail. Because the late blight risk varies substantially by year and location, growers can experience substantial savings in fungicide applications.

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