As tar spot continues its march across the Midwest, experts are suggesting farmers search now for corn hybrids that may be less susceptible to the relatively new disease as part of their overall 2024 management plan.

New data from the Crop Protection Network, a product of land grant universities that tracks and provides information on field crop issues, shows that during the 2023 growing season, tar spot spread significantly into eastern Nebraska, northern Missouri and southern Michigan from adjoining states Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio.

The spread is likely to continue. Tar spot was reported in 44 of Iowa’s counties this year, mostly in central and southwest Iowa. The disease has been found in all 99 Iowa counties since it first...