Effectiveness of Wheat Rust Programming In Kansas In 2010.

The delivery of high quality, timely and relevant information that can potentially improve crop production management decisions is the primary goal when providing educational information.  In the spring of 2010, Kansas State University faculty were able to successfully deliver, and producers implemented crop management decisions that totaled millions of dollars in profits to Kansas Farmers.  This cropping problem involved a change in which stripe rust race was more prevalent in south Texas wheat fields.  This new race was able to thrive on previously resistant wheat varieties, and quickly spread to many wheat fields.  Thanks to the cooperation of faculty at Texas A&M University who provided an early warning of the stripe rust race change, faculty at K-State were able to develop, publicize, and deliver information to producers on the benefits  of spraying a fungicide to wheat prior to flowering in a timely manner.  Two programs in particular, a webinar on stripe rust and a field day at the Northwest Research Extension Center in Colby, KS allowed for dissemination of information.  A survey was then sent out to attendees about the value of these extension programs by using both an electronic online survey and a mailed paper survey.  Many of the attendees were consultants covering numerous wheat acres.  The total number of acres covered by the people who returned the surveys was 1.5 million with an estimated $19.8 million benefit to Kansas farmers.  Attendees consistently rated both programs very high for the quality of information provided.   To conclude, this educational program was a highly successful extension initiative because of faculty cooperation, foresight of the problem, publicity, and the delivery of high quality, timely and relevant information.