A new disease that kills corn is spreading across the Midwest and Great Plains

Tar spot, a fungal disease, first appeared in the U.S. in 2015 with reports in Indiana and Illinois. Since then, it has been spreading across the Midwest.
Tar spot is moving across the Midwest and Great Plains according to a report from researchers at Kansas State University.

The disease, which was present in Mexico, first appeared in Indiana and Illinois in 2015. Since then, it has spread to surrounding states — farmers spotted it in Nebraska for the first time in 2021 and in Missouri, Kansas and South Dakota last growing season.

“It's spreading, I'd say, pretty quickly, throughout the Midwest in the corn production regions,” said Rodrigo Onofre, a plant pathology professor at Kansas State University.