I have no doubt that there were large yield benefits to fungicides last year. But one must remember that disease levels (mostly Grey Leaf Spot) were high across many parts of the state in 2006. This year, across Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio, disease levels have been low to almost non-existent so there is absolutely no justification for the widespread use of fungicides. Invariably, someone will bring up the plant health issue (in the absence of disease) but this is a non sequitur. Other than the chemical companies own propaganda, there is little evidence that these applications provide a return on investment.

Seeing an economic return is not the only issue. Resistance is a major concern with fungicides - more so than with herbicides.. Widespread use today will have consequences far into the future. One would think that we would have learned our lessons with resistance to the ALS, diphenyl ether, and now glyphosate herbicides, but that would be wrong. Chemical misuse and abuse seems to have become the norm for our industry.