Farm Dog, the leading pest and disease management platform for growers and agronomists, has teamed up with the United States Department of Agriculture – Agricultural Research Service (USDA-ARS) to monitor crop outbreaks.
The Non-funded Cooperative Agreement (NFCA) will support Farm Dog’s ongoing efforts in developing regional tools for pest and disease management. The company recently monitored a successful growing season in South Florida, enabling a real-time outbreak map based on crowd-sourced pest and disease information from users, universities, and government sources.
According to Liron Brish, CEO of Farm Dog, “As outbreaks continue to cause incredible damage to agriculture, whether it is whiteflies in California cotton, Palmer amaranth weed in the Midwest, or armyworms in African staple crops, it is imperative that we use our collective wisdom to protect our crops in a cost-effective and environmentally sustainable way.”
The Farm Dog platform empowers boots-on-the-ground field scouting with an easy-to-use mobile application and analytics to identify efficacy issues and outbreaks. As part of the NFCA, researchers from the USDA-ARS Horticultural Research Laboratory in Fort Pierce, Florida will provide additional analytical and geo-spatial expertise as well as extend reach to growers via a grass-roots community-wide approach.
“We look forward to a lengthy research partnership with the USDA-ARS,” says Brish. “This NFCA is a testament to the work already completed as well as the ongoing potential for improving pest and disease management.”
