Current weather increases the potential for wheat rust

Driving along Highways 30 and 71, as well as along, Interstate 80, it is hard to miss the beautiful green color of the local winter wheat in our area, mainly due to the amount of moisture of late.

But that moisture can cause damage to this midwest staple.

“People need to be looking at their wheat fields now for the possibility of wheat rust on their crops,” said University of Nebraska – Lincoln plant disease specialist, Bob Harveson.

Wheat rust is a disease of wheat caused by a fungus, such as ‘Puccinia graminis’, and Harveson states that this disease has already been reported by...