Show Notes

In this episode Ed interviews Dr. José González-Acuña, recent Ph.D. graduate at Iowa State University. They discuss José's Thesis work on frogeye leaf spot and efforts to expand the ever growing library of plant disease predictive models. Additional Resources https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-026-46975-z#Sec14 https://journals.ashs.org/view/journals/horttech/27/5/article-p710.xml https://cropprotectionnetwork.org/news/new-crop-risk-tool-enhances-disease-management-decisions Time Stamps 00:00 Understanding Machine Learning Models 03:23 Choosing the Right Model for the Project 06:13 Metrics for Model Evaluation 08:48 Challenges in Data Collection and Standardization 11:38 Insights on Frog Eye Leaf Spot Modeling 13:44 Future Directions and Improvements 17:40 Understanding Weather Data's Role in Disease Modeling 19:42 Data Collection and Analysis for Disease Severity 21:29 Introduction to Decision Support Systems (DSS) 22:27 The Importance of Decision Support in Agriculture 24:09 Future of Predictive Modeling and Decision Support Systems 28:44 The Role of Farmers in Utilizing Predictive Models 32:14 Economic Benefits of Decision Support Systems 34:29 Elevator Pitch: Explaining Predictive Modeling to the Public 37:58 outro with logo.mp4 Zaworski, E. (Host) and González-Acuña, J. (Interviewee). S5:E8 (Podcast). Frog Eye-PM: Predictive Modeling Part 2. 5/20/2026. In I See Dead Plants. Crop Protection Network. Transcript