The existence of maps that show the presence and treatments of the main diseases and insect pests of the most important crops in the country, is valued by different production actors: producers and consultants to know if a certain pest is found in their area and thus increase caution, especially monitoring; input companies to direct the search for solutions and their sales force to the most affected areas; among other utilities.

Diseases and insects mapped

In 2020 REM carried out this mapping for the first time. It was aimed at the main fungal and insectile adversities found in soybean, corn (early and late), wheat and barley crops. Information was collected on their presence for the different Departments / Parties, as well as in what percentage the batches required treatment. This information is extremely valuable for territorializing the state of the crops, the pressure exerted by these adversities on them, and the scope of action thresholds for chemical treatments.

Diseases mapped by REM

Mapped insects

The maps include information on 200 parties and departments in 10 Argentine provinces, which represents practically the entire agricultural area of the country. To obtain this information, 200 professionals were consulted and it was reviewed by referents distributed throughout this geography.

Colores de los mapas

In the presence maps, when more than one adversity is visualized (be it diseases or insects), the color scale goes from white to black, passing through a gradient of gray tones as the amount present advances.
Now, when the characterization is focused on a specific adversity; red indicates its presence in said department or party. The visualization of gray belongs to the departments that were consulted for said crops but where adversity was not present.

In the case of treated surface maps, the departments are colored according to a gradient of intensity of red tones as the percentage of batches treated for a specific adversity increases.
It should be clarified that in the case of insects, for corn and soybean crops, the data on the percentage of crop lots with the different technologies available for lepidoptera is also reported. It is a piece of information that we believe is important to be able to visualize as it gives us information on the adoption by producers and to what extent this percentage of the treated batches has an impact.

Limitations

Finally, it is necessary to mention as limitations of this methodology, in the first place the possibility that in some party / department there is the presence of some adversity and they do not appear on the map, due to ignorance of the people consulted. Secondly, it must be taken into consideration that the percentages reported in the maps arise from the respondents' own estimates, so there may be differences in the field.

Thanks

To all the people who selflessly responded by providing information about their area.

To the technical referents of public institutions who made contributions to the information presented.