The Potato/Tomato late blight Decision Support System (DSS) was developed at Cornell University by Dr. Bill Fry and his graduate student Ian Small. The disease forecasting system can be used to optimize spray applications for control of late blight. It includes current and forecast weather data, disease forecasts, a simulation model of the late blight disease, and a communication system. In field and computer simulation experiments, DSS-guided fungicide schedules were influenced by prevailing weather and host resistance and resulted in schedules that improved the efficiency of fungicide use and also reduced variance in disease suppression when compared to a weekly spray schedule. The DSS is currently hosted at Cornell University but will be migrating in 2019 to a fee service that will be managed by UKKO Agro.
See the video to learn more about Blight Pro, and for further information on Blight Pro contact Dr. Ian Small at University of Florida.
Watch a presentation by Bill Fry on Forecasting late blight
Michigan State, Univ of Maine and North Dakota also operate local decision support tools
Click here to view a publication on the DSS and its development and a second paper on economic impact of DSS on tomato production