A disease that cuts corn yields was once confined to a handful of states. Now it’s spreading across the country’s corn belt, and it’s believed it will claim 10 percent of this year’s crops.
A disease that cuts corn yields by as much as half was once confined a handful of states. Now it’s spreading across the country’s corn belt, and some estimate it will claim 10 percent of this year’s crops.
It’s called Goss’s wilt, and at one time it was only a problem in Nebraska and a few places in Colorado.
That changed in 2008 when cases were reported in Wisconsin, Iowa, Illinois, and Indiana.
This year it’s traveled as far as Louisiana.
It works by infecting plants that have already been damaged by hail, heavy winds, and other severe weather by working its way into the plant’s vascular system through the surface wounds.
Once it takes hold, it may not kill the stalks, but it does inhibit the plant’s ability to produce ears of corn.
2011 was a tough year for many farmers because of Goss’s wilt, with some reporting up to 60 bushels per acre of their typical 200 yield being lost.
Some blame seed hybrids while others say that the practice of leaving old stocks to rot rather than tilling them and isolating bacteria underground is the likeliest cause.
