Wheat Disease Loss Estimates from the United States and Canada — 2025

Wheat diseases annually reduce yield in the United States and Canada. Diseases of importance vary from year to year, and those that affect yield are influenced by multiple factors, including environmental conditions, crop production practices, and susceptibility of a given variety to disease. 

Plant pathologists representing 29 wheat-producing U.S. states and four Canadian provinces estimated the percent yield losses from wheat disease in their state or province. These reports account for 88.6 percent (1.76 billion bushels) of the total wheat produced in the U.S. and 98.7 percent (1.45 billion bushels) of the total wheat produced in Canada in 2025 (Figure 1). The yield loss estimates include root, stem, foliar, head, and kernel diseases in the states/provinces represented in this survey. Additional information on yield and economic losses from wheat diseases can be accessed at the CPN Field Crop Disease and Insect Loss Calculator. 

This publication documents the impact of major diseases on wheat production during 2025. The North Central Regional Committee on Management of Small Grain Diseases (NCERA 184) and the Western Wheat Workers (WERA 97) revise the wheat disease loss estimates annually. It is important to note that methods for estimating disease loss vary by state or province. The estimates may be based on statewide disease surveys; feedback from university Extension, industry, farmer representatives; and personal experience with disease losses.

Determination of disease loss values is based on yield prior to estimated losses for each state or province using the formula (harvested bushels/[{100 – percent estimated disease loss}/100]). Total bushels lost per disease is determined for each state or province using the formula ([percent loss/100] x yield before estimated loss). The estimated losses do not include mycotoxin, black point, or black sooty mold contamination, or seed lots contaminated by ergot, as these reduce grain quality rather than quantity. 

2025 Conditions and Production

Farmers in the U.S. and Canada planted wheat on 72.4 million acres in 2025. This produced nearly 3.5 billion bushels of wheat, worth approximately $17.1 billion USD. Above average temperatures were observed across the contiguous U.S. in 2025 and across winter wheat-producing regions of the southern plains in the fall of 2024, resulting in the fourth-warmest year on record. Multiple regions experienced drought, particularly the southwest, southeast, and portions of the north central U.S. Other regions experienced above-average precipitation, including several states in the northern and southern plains.

2025 Disease Losses

In 2025, disease reduced harvested wheat bushels by an estimated 5.2 percent across the U.S. states included in this survey and by an estimated 7.0 percent across four Canadian provinces. Table 1 provides yield-loss estimates for all diseases, and Figure 2 presents the proportion of losses by disease or disease group. Total estimated yield losses from wheat disease in the U.S. and Canada were 205.0 million bushels, which were valued at approximately $531.2 million USD. This does not include the economic costs of disease management practices such as fungicide seed treatment or foliar fungicide application, crop scouting, or development of disease-resistant varieties. 

The viral disease complex consisting of wheat streak mosaic (WSMV), High Plains disease, and triticum mosaic caused the greatest estimated yield losses in 2025. Conducive environmental conditions in the fall of 2024 contributed to the increased prevalence of wheat curl mites in areas severely affected by WSMV. The increase in wheat curl mites in the fall likely contributed to increased WSMV incidence and severity for winter wheat production in these areas. 

Table 1. Estimated wheat yield losses from diseases in 29 wheat-producing states in the United States and four provinces in Canada in 2025.

¹May include needle, root-gall, root-knot, stem and bulb, stubby-root, and stunt nematodes; ²May include Alternaria leaf blight, anthracnose, Ascochyta leaf spot, bacterial mosaic, and downy mildew; ³May include pink snow mold, speckled snow mold, and snow rot; ⁴May include Agropyron mosaic and Brome mosaic.

Disease Losses by Region

To increase the granularity of loss data, wheat-producing states and provinces were divided into seven regions (Figure 3), and the top five yield-limiting diseases for each region are reported in Tables 2-8.

East North Central Region

This region represents 10.8 percent of the wheat produced in the U.S. and Canada and consists of Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Missouri, New York, Ohio, Ontario, and Wisconsin. Total losses from plant disease were estimated to be 5.9 million bushels, or 1.5 percent of production in this region. 

Table 2. Estimated wheat yield losses due to the five most significant diseases in the U.S. East North Central states¹ and Ontario, Canada in 2025.

¹Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Missouri, New York, Ohio, and Wisconsin.

Mid-Atlantic Region

This region accounts for 1.5 percent of the wheat produced in the U.S. and Canada and consists of Delaware, Maryland, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Virginia. Total losses from plant disease were estimated to be 2.2 million bushels, or 4.2 percent of production in this region.

Table 3. Estimated wheat yield losses due to the five most significant diseases in the U.S. Mid-Atlantic states¹ in 2025.

¹Delaware, Maryland, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Virginia.

Mountain West Region

This region accounts for 10.4 percent of the wheat produced in the U.S. and Canada and consists of Colorado, Idaho, and Montana. Total losses from plant disease were estimated to be 18.7 million bushels, or 4.9 percent of production in this region.

Table 4. Estimated wheat yield losses due to the five most significant diseases in U.S. Mountain West states¹ in 2025.

¹Colorado, Idaho, and Montana.

Southeast Region

This region accounts for 1.0 percent of the wheat produced in the U.S. and Canada and consists of Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Tennessee. Total losses from plant disease were estimated to be 0.4 million bushels, or 1.0 percent of production in this region.

Table 5. Estimated wheat yield losses due to the five most significant diseases in the U.S. Southeast states¹ in 2025.

¹Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Tennessee.

Northern Great Plains Region

This region accounts for 13.7 percent of the wheat produced in the U.S. and Canada and consists of Minnesota, North Dakota, and South Dakota. Total losses from plant disease were estimated to be 22.6 million bushels, or 4.5 percent of production in this region.

Table 6. Estimated wheat yield losses due to the five most significant diseases in the U.S. Northern Great Plains states¹ in 2025.

¹Minnesota, North Dakota, and South Dakota. 

Southern Great Plains Region

This region accounts for 16.7 percent of the wheat produced in the U.S. and Canada and consists of Kansas, Nebraska, Oklahoma, and Texas. Total losses from plant disease were estimated to be 48.0 million bushels, or 7.7 percent of production in this region.

Table 7. Estimated wheat yield losses due to the five most significant diseases in the U.S. Southern Plains states¹ in 2025.

¹Kansas, Nebraska, Oklahoma, and Texas.

Western Canada Region

This region accounts for 38.7 percent of the wheat produced in the U.S. and Canada and consists of Alberta, Manitoba, and Saskatchewan. Total losses from plant disease were estimated to be 107.3 million bushels, or 7.4 percent of production in this region.

Table 8. Estimated wheat yield losses due to the five most significant diseases in Western Canadian provinces¹ in 2025.

¹Alberta, Manitoba, and Saskatchewan; ²Tan spot, Septoria tritici blotch, and Stagonospora nodorum leaf and glume blotch caused the same amount of estimated losses across western Canadian provinces in 2025. 

Disclaimer

The disease loss estimates in this publication were provided by members of the North Central Regional Committee on Management of Small Grain Diseases (NCERA 184) and the Western Wheat Workers (WERA 97). This information is only a guide. The values in this publication are not intended to be exact estimates of wheat yield losses due to diseases. The members of NCERA 184 used the most appropriate means available to estimate disease losses and assume no liability for the use of these estimates.

Values reported in this document were accurate as of the publication date and do not reflect corrections or updates occurring since that time. For the most up-to-date values and additional information on yield and economic losses due to diseases, see the Field Crop Disease and Insect Loss Calculator.

Acknowledgements

Authors

Nolan Anderson,Texas A&M AgriLife Research; Adam Sisson, Iowa State University; Kelly Turkington, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada; Amanda Scherer, Auburn University; Travis Faske, University of Arkansas; Ron Meyer, Colorado State University; Alyssa Betts, University of Delaware; Alfredo Martinez Espinoza, University of Georgia; Juliet Marshall, University of Idaho; Boris X. Camiletti, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign; Darcy Telenko, Purdue University; Kelsey Andersen-Onofre, Kansas State University; Carl Bradley, University of Kentucky;  Paul “Trey” Price III, Louisiana State University; Martin Chilvers, Michigan State University; Jochum Wiersma, University of Minnesota; Tom Allen, Mississippi State University; Mandy Bish, University of Missouri; Uta McKelvy, Montana State University; Stephen Wegulo, University of Nebraska-Lincoln; Gary Bergstrom, Cornell University; Christina Cowger, USDA-ARS Raleigh, North Carolina; Andrew Friskop; North Dakota State University; Pierce Paul, Ohio State University; Meriem Aoun, Oklahoma State University; Albert Tenuta, Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food, and Rural Affairs; Alyssa Collins, Pennsylvania State University; Madalyn Shires, South Dakota State University; Heather Kelly, University of Tennessee; Ken Obasa,Texas A&M University; David Langston and Doug Higgins, Virginia Tech; and Damon Smith, University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Reviewers

Daren Mueller, Iowa State University and Kiersten Wise, University of Kentucky.

Sponsors

In addition to support from the United States Department of Agriculture - National Institute of Food and Agriculture, this project was funded in part by the Grain Farmers of Ontario.

Sources

Production data from the United States Department of Agriculture-National Agricultural Statistics Service and Statistics Canada. Climate information from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration-National Center for Environmental Information.

United States Department of Agriculture National Agricultural Statistics Service. Quick Stats Database. Accessed 3 February and 4 March 2026.

Statistics Canada. Table 32-10-0359-01 Estimated areas, yield, production, average farm price, and total farm value of principal field crops, in metric and imperial units. Accessed 20 February and 4 March 2026. 

How to cite: Anderson, N., Sisson, A., Turkington, K., Scherer, A., Faske, T., Meyer, R., Betts, A., Martinez Espinoza, A., Marshall, J., Camiletti, B. X., Telenko, D., Andersen-Onofre, K., Bradley, C., Price, P., III, Chilvers, M., Wiersma, J., Allen, T., Bish, M., McKelvy, U., Wegulo, S., Bergstrom, G., Cowger, C., Friskop, A., Paul, P., Aoun, M., Tenuta, A., Collins, A., Shires, M., Kelly, H., Obasa, K., Langston, D., Higgins, D., Smith, D. 2026. Wheat Disease Loss Estimates in the United States and Canada — 2025. Crop Protection Network. CPN-3018-25. doi.org/10.31274/cpn-20260408-0.