(No subject)

[Guest guest]

well with any luck this rust will wipe-out the GE soy.....

just a thought

 

 

 

 

WASHINGTON - The US outbreak of soybean rust has spread to Alabama and Georgia,

the Agriculture Department said on Friday, leaving Texas the lone state in the

Gulf Coast untouched by the devastating crop fungus.

 

 

Soybean rust has been found in Louisiana, Mississippi and Florida since its

initial discovery in two Louisiana State University research plots last week.

The wind-borne disease does not harm humans but can cut soybean crop yields by

up to 80 percent.

The USDA said soybean samples collected in Seminole County, Alabama, and Mobile

County, Georgia, tested positive for Asian soybean rust. The USDA also found

soybean rust in a second Florida field and another Louisiana field.

 

There were a total of 10 infected fields in the United States, the USDA said.

 

" Every county agent that has soybean production has been asked to begin surveys

to determine where this disease has spread in Georgia, " said Tommy Irvin,

Georgia's agriculture commissioner.

 

The US Gulf Coast is a relatively small soybean producing area, but experts say

the fungus may be blown into big soybean states like Iowa and Illinois by next

year's growing season.

 

Soybean rust cannot be controlled through quarantines. If the fungus is detected

early, farmers can limit the impact by spraying soybean fields with fungicide,

but this adds 15 to 20 percent to production costs.

 

Experts agree this year's harvest would not be affected since most of the US

soybean crop was already harvested. However, Irvin warned farmers that rust

would probably become an annual disease that threatens soybean crops along with

other legumes such as snap beans, peas and clover.

 

State farm officials were expected to meet to decide the best strategy to

protect next season's soybean plantings, the USDA said. Fungicides are the only

short-term solution for farmers.

 

MORE SUSPECT PLANTS IN LOUISIANA

 

Suspect fields are being discovered daily in Louisiana, according to university

scientists there.

 

Clayton Hollier, a Louisiana State University plant pathologist, said he was

awaiting an answer from USDA on whether it could test three more samples from

two new Louisiana counties.

 

" We are hoping to hear from them today, " Hollier said. " We are holding samples

and we need to get them in the mail if that is what they want. "

 

Hollier declined to identify the two new counties suspected of having the

fungus. The USDA has already confirmed soybean rust in five Louisiana parishes

or counties.

 

Soybean rust is characterized by reddish brown lesions on soybean plants that

make them shed their leaves. In recent years, the fungus spread from Asia to

Africa and into Latin America, devastating crops in many countries.

 

USDA officials theorized soybean rust was blown into the US Gulf Coast by a

series of hurricanes in September.