Saint Louis, Missouri
October 7, 2008
The American Soybean
Association (ASA) is urgently requesting help from U.S.
Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Ed Schafer in funding
for 2009 the soybean rust early warning and management system
that has helped soybean farmers manage and protect their crops.
The system, known formally as the Integrated Pest Management
Pest Information Platform for Extension and Education (ipmPIPE),
was developed in 2004 between agencies at the U.S. Department of
Agriculture and the soybean industry.
"After four years as the critical early warning and management
system for soybean farmers to minimize the impact of Asian
soybean rust, the program has no funding secured for the 2009
crop year," said ASA President John Hoffman, a soybean producer
from Waterloo, Iowa. "Without funding for the ipmPIPE system,
the U.S. soybean crop, with an estimated farm-gate value of $37
billion, will be put at risk."
The ipmPIPE has been highly effective in helping growers make
informed decisions about fungicide application. The system
includes a surveillance and monitoring network, a Web-based
information management system, criteria for deciding when to
apply fungicides, predictive modeling, and outreach. USDA’s Risk
Management Agency has provided more than $2 million in funding
for this program in each of the last three years.
"We regret that the broken Congressional appropriations process
leaves us with no option but to seek USDA funding for this
critical program," Hoffman said. "Soybean farmers have been and
remain willing to work with USDA. In each year since 2005, more
than $500,000 of state and national checkoff funding has been
contributed toward this effort. But soybean farmers cannot
assume the entire responsibility and cost of this program by
themselves."
The development of the Web-based tracking and early-warning
system has greatly enhanced the ability of farmers to manage
risk and avoid unnecessary fungicide applications. USDA’s
Economic Research Service has found that rust management due to
ipmPIPE saved farmers an estimated $299 million in 2005. Surveys
conducted by land grant universities estimate a $299 million
savings in 2006 and another $209 million in 2007.
"While losses due to rust have not been severe, growing
conditions in the last several years have been atypical, mainly
due to drought in Southern and Southeastern states, which
inhibits the spread of rust," Hoffman said. "We will not be
protected from soybean rust without the tools that ipmPIPE
provides."
The American Soybean Association strongly supports the
continuation of ipmPIPE. The risks are simply too great, and the
costs too small, to abandon it now. ASA is asking Secretary
Schafer for his commitment to continue this highly effective and
critically important program.
"Our partnership with USDA in preparing for and now monitoring
the advancement of soybean rust has been remarkable," Hoffman
said. "We commend the Department for its early recognition of
the dangers posed by soybean rust and for the many agencies that
have reached out to growers to work together in fighting it." |
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