Plant disease threats to food security in the Northern Great Plains of North America

• Published in: Agronomy journal Vol. 113; no. 6; pp. 4473 - 4483
• Main Authors: Byamukama, Emmanuel, Pérez‐Hernández, Oscar, Yabwalo, Dalitso Nobble
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: 01.11.2021
• ISSN: 0002-1962; 1435-0645
• DOI: 10.1002/agj2.20870

Plant disease epidemics are responsible for millions of tons of yield loss from crops annually. To provide sufficient nutritious food, feed, fiber, and fuel for a growing world human population on a non‐expanding land resource, yield loss caused by plant pathogens must be minimized. The Northern Great Plains (NGP) region of the United States is a major crop‐producing region, but crop production in this region is threatened by climate variability, new pathogen or pathogen race development, limited in‐field management practices, pathogen synergism, and fungicide resistance in some fungal pathogens. To sustain stable food, feed, fiber, and fuel production from plants, concerted efforts from all stakeholders must be harnessed to develop new varieties that are resistant to plant pathogens and less sensitive to climate variability, promote use of integrated disease management (that incorporates resistant/tolerant varieties, plant disease prediction, and accurate disease diagnosis and assessment), and enhance early detection capabilities of new pathogens/races. Here, we review the current and near‐future likely plant disease epidemic concerns in the NGP of the United States and propose some actions to prevent or lessen the extent of the next plant disease epidemic development. Core Ideas Worldwide, plant disease epidemics have been devastating, leading to loss of human life. Risk factors such as changing global climate and new pathogen races threaten food production. Awareness and concerted efforts to address these factors are needed to reverse the course.