Severity Estimation Training

Making Accurate Management Decisions

The Severity Tool is an interactive, web-based resource for crop scouts, agronomists, and researchers to improve assessment of disease severity and insect defoliation.

Users can practice estimating severity using dynamic leaf images that simulate real-world conditions or test their skills through self-guided quizzes with immediate feedback. Training modules include major corn and soybean diseases such as gray leaf spot, northern corn leaf blight, frogeye leaf spot, and soybean rust, along with insect defoliation scenarios.

By improving visual estimation accuracy, this tool helps reduce common rating errors, supports more consistent data collection across teams, and leads to more informed decisions about pest management, research evaluations, and potential yield impacts.

This tool is best used to:

• Train field crews to accurately assess disease and insect injury in research plots.

• Refresh farmers’ and scouts’ skills when assessing insect injury and making insecticide decisions.

Crop Protection Network. 2020. Disease Severity and Insect Defoliation Training Online Tool. Doi.org/10.31274/cpn-20200722-0.