April 5, 2006

 

USDA: Surveillance of Asian soybean rust paying off

 

 

An analysis conducted by the Economic Research Service (ERS) of the US Department of Agriculture concludes that government tracking and surveillance of Asian soybean rust is paying off for the US grain industry, mitigating damage done by the airborne plant disease in 2005.

 

"Last spring, USDA launched an early warning system to help ensure producers have easy access to all the best information and guidance on soybean rust," said Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns in a Monday (Apr 3) press release. "I'm pleased that our efforts have been successful and even contributed to increased producers' income."

 

The report, entitled "The Value of Plant Disease Early Warning Systems: A Case Study of USDA's Soybean Rust Coordinated Framework," examined an alert system that provided real-time, county-level announcements of soybean rust detections in the US, via the USDA's public rust website last year.

 

The study estimates that rust information provided to growers by federal, state, industry and academic experts participating in the system increased US soybean producers' profits by somewhere between 16 cents and US$4.12 per acre.

 

"Our analysis shows that, although the value of information from the system varies somewhat geographically, overall the system's value has been substantial," said the ERS report. "Even if forecasts are poor, resolving only 20 percent of soybean rust infection uncertainty for all fields planted with soybeans, the system's value is an estimated US$11 million in farmer profits in the first year. If forecasts resolve 80 percent of infestation uncertainty, the estimated value is US$299 million. Our analysis suggests that the value of the information in 2005 likely exceeds reported costs of developing the information."

 

USDA implemented a strategic plan in anticipation of a potential US soybean rust outbreak four years ago, which established priorities of protection, detection, response and recovery from the disease, which first appeared in Louisiana in late 2004.

 

USDA agencies involved in the project include the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service; the Cooperative State Research, Education and Extension Service; the Risk Management Agency and the Agricultural Research Service. Several soybean industry organisations, many state departments of agriculture and numerous research/scientific concerns also became involved in the launch of USDA's official soybean rust web site.

 

The resource provides farmers, crop consultants and others information on the extent and severity of current soybean rust outbreaks and provide users with up-to-date forecasts on where soybean rust is likely to appear next, based on prevailing weather patterns, aero-biological analysis and historical experience with other fungal diseases which are dispersed in a similar manner; such as wheat stem rust.

 

Warnings and forecasts of rust movement--largely generated from scouting of local sentinel plots and weed patches--are critical in control of the fast-acting disease, allowing farmers to apply fungicides prior to a full-blown outbreak. There are no soybean hybrids known to be naturally resistant to the disease, which can cut yields by up to 90 percent.