Southern rust reports indicate it might be a lighter year for the disease in 2026, but the first positive detections are being reported and scouting is recommended.
Pamela Smith
Crops Technology Editor
Pamela Smith joined DTN/Progressive Farmer staff as Crops Technology Editor in 2012. She previously was seeds and technology editor for Farm Journal Media. In addition to writing, reporting and photography, Pamela served as the writing coach for the magazine staff. An Illinois native, she started her career as a field editor for Prairie Farmer magazine and has freelanced for a multitude of farm, food and travel magazines.
Pamela is a two-time winner of the American Agriculture Editor's Association Writer of the Year honors. In 2009, she received the Jesse H. Neal National Business Journalism award for a series on soybean rust. She was the first agricultural journalist to receive that coveted prize, often referred to as the Pulitzer of business journalism. In 2011, she received a second Neal award as part of a team covering the legacy of passing down the farm through the generations. She has also been named the journalist of the year by the American Phytopathological Society (plant pathologists) and the Weed Science Society of America. She was awarded a national food writing award for her profile of Father Dominic Garramone, a bread-baking priest. Four generations of her family farm in central Illinois.
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