Brownfield, MO
03-13-07
First Iowa Asian soybean bean rust found in bin
by Peter Shinn
Iowa State University (ISU) scientists on Tuesday confirmed the state’s first
finding of Asian soybean rust in last year’s crop. It seems a producer was
cleaning some 2006 crop out of a bin and found some suspicious looking plant
residue. He sent it to ISU and they confirmed the presence of soybean rust.
Dr. David Wright is director of contract research for the Iowa Soybean
Association. He told Brownfield the finding should remove any doubt about the
threat soybean rust presents. “This disease can show up and when it does,
people need to be ready,” he said.
On the other hand, Wright said cold weather in January and February means
soybean rust isn’t getting off to a fast start this year. According to Wright, cold
temperatures and hard freezes early in the year killed developing spores in the
southeastern U.S.
Wright recommends ag producers have at least one fungicide pass budgeted into
their cost of production ahead of soybean planting. Last year, soybean rust
traveled farther north than it ever had, with confirmed findings as far north as
Illinois, and as of Tuesday, Iowa.