Ames, Iowa
May 12, 2004
An Iowa
team is developing an action plan to prepare for and respond
to a new soybean disease. Asian soybean rust has not been
found in North America and experts don't expect it to hit the
United States this growing season. The disease could cost the
soybean industry more than $1 billion a year in fungicides if
it shows up in the United States.
The group began meeting in the fall of 2003 to discuss how to
handle reports of soybean rust. The team members represent
Iowa State University, the Iowa Department of Agriculture and
Land Stewardship, the Iowa Soybean Association/Iowa Soybean
Promotion Board and the United States Department of
Agriculture Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.
Greg Tylka, a plant pathologist at Iowa State, said the team's
goal is to keep farmers, crop consultants, extension
specialists and researchers informed on how to spot the
disease, where to take samples for accurate identification and
how to minimize yield loss.
"We want to alleviate fears and let the public know there are
well-trained people working on this potential problem. We have
an effective and geographically widespread system to check for
soybean rust," Tylka said.
Since
Asian soybean rust is not present in the United States, few
researchers have had the opportunity to study the disease.
Iowa State has two researchers with expertise who are
monitoring the movement of the fungus, developing
weather-based models to predict when and where rust could
occur and analyzing where the disease could overwinter.
"We are
developing an effective system to diagnose and monitor for
soybean rust," Tylka said.
The team plans to hold five training workshops for more than
2,000 crop consultants and advisers during the last week in
June to help them identify Asian soybean rust. These crop
professionals are likely to be the first to detect the disease
if it hits Iowa fields.
"There are some common soybean diseases that occur in Iowa
that can be confused with soybean rust, so accurate diagnosis
by experts is necessary," Tylka said. "Producers shouldn't
make drastic management decisions without knowing all the
facts."
Soybean rust is of national interest and could have serious
economic implications for the soybean industry, Tylka said.
The first few infections in each state need to be accurately
and conclusively identified by USDA scientists. Once soybean
rust is confirmed, trained individuals throughout Iowa will be
able to identify and verify the disease.
Earlier this year team members tested how quickly the first
samples could be verified by the USDA. An ISU Extension field
crop specialist initiated the test by taking a false sample to
the Plant Disease Clinic at Iowa State. It took less than 30
hours for the sample to make its way from the field to the
clinic and on to Beltsville, MD for official confirmation by
the USDA.
"That's pretty quick turn around," Tylka said. "Our goal is to
have the same turn-around time, if needed, during the growing
season."
Iowa is one of nine states to apply for a Section 18 emergency
use exemption from the Environmental Protection Agency to
allow producers to apply certain fungicides if the rust hits
Iowa. The fungicides can only be applied after the problem is
verified.
The team's
purpose is to develop a comprehensive system to detect and
respond to a pathogen that travels quickly and protect a
multi-billion dollar industry. In 2003, more than 2.4 billion
bushels of soybean were produced in 31 states. Iowa had the
greatest area of soybean harvested with 10.5 million acres and
produced 337.6 million bushels. In 2003, the United States
produced 39 percent of the world's soybean, followed by Brazil
with 26 percent, Argentina with 18 percent and China with 8
percent.
Soybean rust is found on every continent in the world except
North America. The fungus was first identified in Japan in
1902. It was discovered in Australia in 1934 and from there it
traveled to Africa. Brazilian soybean producers first
experienced the disease during the 2002-2003 growing season.
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