Delaware Agriculture Week is a venue to share important research from UD faculty and staff across the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources (CANR), particularly UD Cooperative Extension. UD provided 36 separate sessions in all. Now in its 20th year, the event drew an estimated 1,200 farmers, crop advisors and regional extension experts. The event is co-sponsored by the Delaware Department of Agriculture and Delaware Cooperative Extension through UD and Delaware State University.

Delaware Agriculture Week 2025: youtube.com/watch?v=A6Amzluccrg

UD’s impact at Delaware Ag Week

Article by Michele Walfred and Katie Peikes Photos by Michele Walfred and Jackie Czachorowski January 28, 2025

UD faculty and staff help Delaware agriculture professionals face emerging issues

Emerging crop diseases keep farmers on their toes. One of them, southern blight, is a serious fungal disease with a menu of 500 host plants.

“It can be tremendously problematic,” said Alyssa Betts, University of Delaware extension plant pathologist, during Delaware Agriculture Week, held January 13-16. “It is a very aggressive fungus; it can take down a whole plant in a fast amount of time.”

Betts’ goal was to give farmers a heads up to recognize warning signs, take early action, and remove a troublesome presence before it takes hold and becomes a long-term issue. Currently prevalent in North Carolina, the disease thrives in hot, damp conditions and causes rapid sclerosis of the plant.

“Unfortunately, it has a tremendously wide host range — tomatoes, peppers, cucurbits, you name it,” Betts said. “In agronomic crops, it affects soybeans. I’ve seen it in a few select cases in Delaware. It is a southern pathogen that is creeping its way up closer to us.”

The information exchange is crucial in supporting agriculture, Delaware’s No. 1 industry, which provides more than 69,000 jobs and nearly $10.3 billion of economic activity.

Alyssa Betts, UD extension plant pathologist, provided several talks on disease management and emerging threats.

Poultry, in particular, is Delaware’s top agricultural sector, and UD has played a pivotal role in the industry’s century on Delmarva. This year, with two commercial flocks in the state recently impacted by highly pathogenic avian influenza, commonly known as bird flu, Delaware Ag Week personnel canceled three poultry educational sessions.

Attending his first Delaware Ag Week as CANR dean, Brian Farkas took a few moments to introduce himself to the Exhibit Hall audience. He lauded the crucial roles that UD’s Allen Lab and Lasher Lab play in the frontline defense against avian influenza. He also invited the agriculture community to weigh in on the college’s strategic plan, which will define CANR’s role and future impact throughout Delaware.

“Our strategic plan will help guide us over the years to come — things that are boots-on-the-ground relevant, the things our students need to be learning, and the things we need to be doing in research that will help put Delaware head and shoulders above everyone else,” Farkas said. “This strategic plan should reflect the needs of the farmers and processors and the natural resources of our state and region.”

Brian Farkas, Dean of the UD College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, introduces himself to Delaware Agriculture Week attendees.

With a 30-year career in UD Extension and eight years as Delaware Secretary of Agriculture, Ed Kee, CANR executive in residence, has experienced Delaware Ag Week from all angles and perspectives.

“Delaware Ag Week has grown incredibly,” Kee said. “We get farmers from surrounding states, a wonderful trade show, and besides the formal program with excellent speakers, there’s fellowship and camaraderie.”

Kee cited Cooperative Extension’s ultimate purpose at land-grant universities like UD.

“Get the word out to agriculture people, not just the farmers, but to the support industry, and that’s huge,” Kee added. “[Extension is] the whole package — the educational piece, research and relationships. It’s a big deal.“

Kali Kniel, UD professor of microbial food safety, is presented with the Distinguished Service Award, bestowed by the Fruit and Vegetable Growers Association of Delaware.

Emerging concerns

In addition to southern blight, Betts provided updates on tar spot, an emerging foliar disease of corn, and the latest research on Pythium and Phytophthora management. Growers should be aware of guava root knot nematode, present now in North Carolina but not yet in Delaware, that is affecting crops in southern states.

“It’s become a major focus … There’s a lot of research happening on it,” Betts said. “Unfortunately, these soil pathogens tend to move around and find their way to us.”

Jill Pollok, UD plant diagnostician, spoke on Neopestalotiopsis, a serious fungal disease that affected nurseries supplying strawberry plants to Delaware farms in 2024.

“This can be severely strong in strawberries,” Pollock said. “If environmental conditions are correct, you can get widespread damage and whole plant death.”

Pollok advised that strawberry growers should obtain transplants from reputable suppliers and examine them carefully. Suspected plant samples can be tested for free at the UD Plant Diagnostic Clinic.

Emmalea Ernest, UD fruit and vegetable specialist, alerted growers that lima beans might support the reproduction of root knot nematode (RKN), without presenting its telltale galls or knots, the symptom of RKN infection from root feeding.

The UD lima bean breeding program is developing varieties that RKN can’t reproduce on. Ernest is hesitant to rate varieties based solely on galling as a result.

“I don’t want lima bean plants that make more nematodes,” Ernest said.

This year marked the first Delaware Ag Week for Erik Ervin, interim director of UD Cooperative Extension.

“The crowds are large; it demonstrates that we are doing some great education for our agriculture community,” Ervin said. “I am impressed with all of our extension agents and specialists giving their talks on their current science.”

College of Agriculture and Natural Resources’ alumni were present for Delaware Ag Week. Matthew Chapman, a UD Class of 2024 agriculture and natural resource major, works as Walls Irrigation’s newest sales representative.

For Aaron Doll, a UD Class of 2024 graduate, Delaware Ag Week reinforced what he learned at UD. Doll paid close attention to sessions on tar spot in corn and pathogens like Pythium and Phytophthora that he will encounter professionally. A precision agricultural technician with Helena Agri Enterprises in Bridgeville, Doll found the technology topics fascinating.

“Precision agriculture is great, and learning about drones, the different lenses, and using drones for spraying is cool,” he said. “Seeing the massive drones in person has been amazing.”

“Delaware Ag Weeks helps our state stay competitive,” added Dave Marvel, Kent County farmer who grows corn, soybeans, barley, wheat and watermelons. “We need that edge.”

Marvel said he appreciates the new ideas that protect the environment and the farmer's profitability.

“We have to be able to save our crop when something attacks it,” he said. “Luckily, if something comes around, we have the tools in the toolbox to save that crop.”