Saint Louis, Missouri
May 22, 2003
Representatives of the
American Soybean Association
(ASA) held yet another in a series of meetings with the United
States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Animal and Plant
Health Inspection Service (APHIS) to stress that billions of
dollars per year of soybean production and producer income are
at risk, and that all possible steps must be taken to prevent or
delay the introduction of Asian rust into the United States.
"We came away from the meeting with strong assurances from APHIS
officials that they are taking the threat of Asian rust very
seriously, and that they are making sure they have the proper
inspection, quarantine and treatment controls in place," said
ASA Vice President Greg Leonard, a soybean producer from Afton,
Oklahoma.
ASA’s discussions with APHIS have focused on what steps must be
taken to exclude soybean rust that could be present in any
imported whole soybeans, contaminated soybean meal or soybean
seed for planting, and what action plans are in place should
rust enter the U.S. through natural means. ASA asked APHIS to
examine fumigation treatments, origin and destination testing,
or other quarantine measures to ensure that soybean rust is not
introduced into the United States via possible soybean imports
from South America.
To address ASA’s concerns, APHIS is undertaking a risk
assessment to determine the feasibility and benefits of sampling
imports at both the origin and destination to ensure that no
viable spores are being transferred, and making sure that proper
protocols are in place for imports of planting seed, which has a
relatively low potential risk because of the cleaning process.
"In the event that any imports of soybean meal from South
America are announced by the trade, ASA encouraged APHIS to
closely inspect such shipments and repeat last year’s practice,
which required heat-treating of any foreign material that is
blended back into processed soybean meal," Leonard said.
This week, APHIS sent a scientist to Brazil to work with
Embrapa, the Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation, and
other government and industry sources to learn more about the
rust situation. APHIS agreed to provide ASA with regular
updates. APHIS is also working with the Agricultural Research
Service to make sure APHIS has the latest rust diagnostic tools
available in their laboratories to test for and identify soybean
rust spores.
"ASA’s objective is to totally prevent the accidental
introduction of soybean rust into the United States that might
occur with possible imports of South American soybeans, soybean
meal, or planting seed," said Leonard. "ASA is working with USDA
and the soybean checkoff on the development of soybean
rust-resistant varieties, but such varieties still are several
years away."
Fungicide treatments currently
represent the best option for containing soybean rust. ASA is
working with USDA’s Office of Pest Management Policy to prepare
for the potential arrival of soybean rust, making sure that
fungicides are registered with the Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) and widely available for farmers’ use.
"Fungicide treatments, however, would be costly, so we need to
do all we can to develop rust-resistant varieties while delaying
the introduction of soybean rust into the United States,"
Leonard concluded.
There only two fungicides currently registered for use in
soybeans that have shown effectiveness on soybean rust. Based on
trials conducted outside the United States, four additional
products have been identified and shown to be effective on
soybean rust, but are not currently registered for use in
soybeans.
Several companies and key EPA and USDA officials have been
contacted for regulatory support of these products and to assure
that Section 18 label approvals are expedited if needed. Section
18 labels can be issued for emergency exemption from
registration. The approval of these additional products will
ensure additional product availability and allow farmers to
rotate active ingredients.
Finally, APHIS is ensuring that a surveillance network is set up
to monitor any movement of soybean rust out of the areas from
which it is known to occur.
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