Fusarium has been a key issue in almost every area of the province this year.
The wet weather this year provided the right environmental conditions for a wide-spread problem with fusarium.
As a result, Saskatchewan’s Ministry of Agriculture is holding a series of producer information workshops to talk more about the disease and its impact.
One of those meetings was held in Swift Current on Tuesday.
Saskatchewan’s Cereal Specialist is Mitchell Japp:
"Specifically what the numbers are this year, I don't know if we have a real solid handle on it.
We had that crop report a number of weeks back where reports were indicating downgrading to fusarium fairly widespread across the province.
I think the only region that didn't comment on it on that particular report was the northwest" he said.
Reports show there are a number of producers with samples showing 2% fusarium or higher which means the quality grade for their crop is anywhere from a #3 to feed depending on the % of infection.
Japp also says it’s going to be very important that we get a seed test and test for fusarium as well as vigor and germination:
"If it's less than 2%, it's probably okay - it's a relatively low inoculate load. If it's between 2-5%, use the registered seed treatment. If it's about 5% fusarium, you should look for a different seed source," he said.
He notes producers will want to get that seed test done early so if they need to find seed they have a better chance of locating good seed.
Cleaning and sorting or conditioning the grain can sometimes help eliminate some of the infected kernels thus improving the grade.