Weather and Disease Modeling Resources
UW Extension AgWeather – This site provides easy access to several different types of weather data from our database. Data coverage extends across the upper Midwest. You can also subscribe to daily email notifications for any covered location that include weather, solar insolation, potential evapotranspiration, degree day models, and some pest risk models. AgWeather also provides an API for accessing this data.
Wisconsin Vegetable Disease and Insect Forecasting Network (VDIFN) – This site uses gridded NOAA weather data and a variety of plant disease and insect development models to predict disease and insect pest pressure in Wisconsin with a friendly, map-based interface.
Wisconsin Irrigation Scheduling Program (WISP) – A complete irrigation scheduling program for your farm, it uses a few simple initial and periodically updated conditions (soil moisture, crop, canopy cover) as well as weather and potential evapotranspiration values (automatically imported but can be manually adjusted).
Wisconsin’s Environmental Mesonet (WiscoNet) – A new and growing network of on-the-ground weather stations delivering a variety of weather and soil parameters including air temperature, wind speed, precipitation, leaf wetness, solar insolation, soil temperature, and soil moisture. Data can be viewed online or accessed via an API.
Network for Environmental and Weather Applications (NEWA) – Run by Cornell, this site uses a network of on-the-ground weather stations and disease and insect models to provide a variety of forecasting and decision-support tools. Weather stations in the NEWA network stretch from the Northeast to Minnesota.
UW-Madison Department and Faculty Websites
- Entomology – https://entomology.wisc.edu/
- Vegetable Entomology (Russ Groves) – https://vegento.russell.wisc.edu/
- Plant Pathology – https://plantpath.wisc.edu/
- Wisconsin Seed Potato Certification Program – https://seedpotato.russell.wisc.edu/
- Plant and Agroecosystem Sciences – https://pasdept.wisc.edu/
- Sustainable Vegetable Production and Precision Agriculture Program (Yi Wang) – https://uwveggies.wiscweb.wisc.edu/
- Potato Breeding Program (Jeff Endelman) – https://potatobreeding.cals.wisc.edu/
- Specialty Crop Innovations Group (Jed Colquhoun) – https://specialtycrops.wisc.edu/
- Wisconsin Cropping Systems Weed Science (Rodrigo Werle) – https://wiscweeds.info/
- Soil Science – https://soils.wisc.edu/
- Nutrient Cycling and Agroecosystems Lab (Matt Ruark) – https://ruarklab.soils.wisc.edu/
- Agricultural & Applied Economics – https://aae.wisc.edu/
- Biological Systems Engineering – https://bse.wisc.edu/
- Atmospheric and Ocean Sciences – https://www.aos.wisc.edu/
- Ecometeorology Lab (Ankur Desai) – https://flux.aos.wisc.edu/
- UW Agricultural Research Stations – https://ars.wisc.edu/
UW-Madison Extension Websites
- Agriculture Programs – https://extension.wisc.edu/agriculture/
- Crops and Soils – https://cropsandsoils.extension.wisc.edu/
- Ag Water Quality – https://agwater.extension.wisc.edu/
- Wisconsin Horticulture – https://hort.extension.wisc.edu/article-topic/vegetables/
- Integrated Pest and Crop Management – https://ipcm.wisc.edu/
- Healthy Grown Potato – https://eatwisconsinpotatoes.com/wisconsin-potatoes/healthy-grown/
- UW Insect Diagnostic Clinic – https://insectlab.russell.wisc.edu/
- UW Plant Disease Diagnostic Clinic – https://pddc.wisc.edu/
Print/online grower resources
Commercial Vegetable Production in Wisconsin
- Our production guide is updated every October with release of a new guide in January. The book can be downloaded for free as a pdf from the UW Learning Store, or a paper copy can be purchased for a small fee.
Pesticide information
- Registered Potato Late Blight Fungicides in Wisconsin
- Pesticide label lookup – Agrian/TELUS Agronomy
- Fungicide Resistance Action Committee (FRAC)
- Insecticide Resistance Action Committee (IRAC)
- Herbicide Resistance Action Committee (HRAC)
Major Projects
Potato Soil Health Project: The Potato Soil Health Project was established to identify reliable indicators of soil health and effective methods for increasing soil health in potato cropping systems, to learn what determines whether growers adopt good soil health management practices, and, ultimately, to improve soil health in potato cropping systems across the United States.
Management of Potato Tuber Necrotic Viruses: This 5-year NIFA-funded collaborative research program was designed to improve diagnostic methods and management strategies for viruses of concern for potato production including Potato virus Y (PVY), Potato mop-top virus (PMTV), and Tobacco rattle virus (TRV). Now concluded, many resources have been posted on this website for future reference.
Potato Virus Initiative: Information and resources related to management of PVY and potato breeding programs aimed at developing PVY resistant lines.
Diploid Potato 2.0: To address potato breeding constraints, our long-term goal is to convert potato into a diploid (2x) inbred-hybrid crop. New germplasm resources, coupled with improved methodologies in genomics and quantitative genetics, will allow us to reconstruct potato as a 2x crop amenable to breeding strategies analogous to those used to produce elite maize F1 hybrids. This change will accelerate breeding timelines, dramatically increasing the rate of cultivar improvement and the ability of potato breeders to meet the needs of consumers and the industry.
Wisconsin Clean Hops Program: The Wisconsin Clean Hops Program at the University of Wisconsin-Madison maintains a collection of pathogen-free hop varieties as a resource for hop growers and gardeners. Stock plants are maintained in greenhouse facilities on the UW-Madison campus, and are tested for pathogens on an annual basis.
Wisconsin’s Annual Potato Meeting
Proceedings of the WPVGA and UW Division of Extension Grower Education Meeting can be browsed online at https://wpvga.conferencespot.org/.