Fusarium Head Blight (FHB) Risk Tool now active for 2026 season
The FHB Risk Tool is now active for the 202 growing season. Fusarium head blight is a devastating disease to U.S. wheat and barley causing reduced crop yield and quality loss. The U.S. Wheat and Barley Scab Initiative (USWBSI) was established to develop solutions for farmers such as resistant varieties, management tools, and best practices. One of those is the FHB Risk Tool, a map that provides predictions of risk for FHB based on models built using decades of research results collected by the USWBSI. The FHB Risk Tool provides daily estimates of disease risk for wheat in 35 states. This season, improvements have been made to update the forecasting model to leverage observations collected with partners contributing data via the USWBSI’s Integrated Management Cooperative Project. The update should improve model performance and prediction accuracies.
