The goal of my research/extension program is to improve the management of crop diseases affecting food grain and forage production systems in New York. Educational programs are aimed at increasing the plant pathology expertise of extension educators and certified crop advisors, and ultimately, field crop producers. I work closely with agronomists, plant breeders, and other plant scientists to evaluate cultural, biological, and chemical disease control strategies as a component of integrated crop management of corn, forage legume, small grain cereal, oilseed, and bioenergy feedstock crops. I also conduct fundamental research on the biology and epidemiology of leaf, ear, and stem diseases of corn and small grain cereals. Topics currently being investigated include: ¥ Host resistance of bioenergy feedstock grasses to pathogens ¥ Epidemiology, host resistance, and integrated management of Stagonospora nodorum blotch of wheat ¥ Epidemiology and integrated management of Fusarium head blight of wheat and Gibberella ear rot of corn ¥ Resistance in winter wheat to wheat spindle streak mosaic bymovirus ¥ Biology and management of brown root rot of legumes and grasses ¥ Seed health-based systems for managing wheat diseases ¥ Assessment and management of mycotoxin contamination in corn and wheat production ¥ Biological control of diseases with Baciillus subtilis.