November 22, 2004

Brazil Discovers Soy Rust In 2004-05 Commercial Crop

Brazilian officials received the first report of the deadly Asian rust fungus at a commercial soybean plantation this season, government researchers said Friday.

The disease was identified in Tres Barras do Parana, southwestern Parana state, in crops entering the flowering phase, said Claudia Godoy of the anti-rust team at the government crop research bureau, or Embrapa.

"Reports of the fungus at test stations had shown that the spores were in the air. This is just confirmation of the risk," she said.

The fungus, which attacks the plant leaves and exposes pods to the sun, caused 4.7 million metric tons in lost soybean production last year, according to Embrapa figures.

Godoy said there was a good chance of heavy rust attacks this year, should wet weather conditions persist. Farmers must monitor their crop closely and spray herbicide when they see or hear of rust close by, she added.

Brazil is expected to produce at least 60 million metric tons this season, up by 20% from the rust-hit 2003-04 crop.

Rust had already been identified in five soybean-producing states, Mato Grosso, Parana, Rio Grande do Sul, Goias and Maranhao, but up until Friday it was only found in experimental crops or in seeds that germinated from soybeans left from last year's crop.

The airborne disease travels extremely quickly and is now assumed to be endemic in Brazil.

U.S. farmers will have to grapple with these problems next year after the fungus was recently discovered in a number of southern states.