First Case of Soy Rust Found in US Mainland
Date: 12-Nov-04
Country: USA
Author: Randy Fabi
A strain of Asian soybean rust was found in two test plots on a Louisiana State University research farm near Baton Rouge. USDA officials blamed the disease on recent hurricanes that apparently carried the fungus from South America.
The United States is the world's biggest producer of soybeans and is forecast to harvest a record 84.6 million tons in the 2004/05 marketing year. One-third of the U.S. soybean crop is exported for use as livestock feed, vegetable oils and food ingredients.
"We have confirmed a detection of soybean rust," Richard Dunkle, deputy administrator of USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, told reporters in a news conference. "The chances for wider spread are very high."
The fungus does not pose a threat to humans.
USDA's announcement sent soybean futures at the Chicago Board of Trade up as much as 6 percent. November soybean futures closed up 12-1/2 cents at $5.23 per bushel.
Soybean rust, which seriously erodes crop yields, was never reported before in the continental United States. Hawaii, where many experimental crops are grown, was infected in 1994.
The disease marched north through South America in recent years. Farmers in Brazil, the world's No. 2 soybean producer, have lost billions of dollars battling the fungus. Paraguay, Bolivia and Argentina have also had to deal with the disease.
"We believe the occurrence of this pathogen is related to the path of the hurricane season," Dunkle said.
The United States was hit by four hurricanes this year, which caused billions of dollars in damage.
Although the USDA previously warned that an outbreak could cost farmers up to $1.3 billion in its first year, the government gave a more moderate assessment this week.
"The cost is very much going to depend on the nature of the outbreak and how it unfolds over time," said Keith Collins, USDA's chief economist.
Fungicides are the only short-term way to protect U.S. soybean fields. The chemicals will add about $25 an acre, or 15 percent to 20 percent, to the cost of growing soybeans, the USDA said.
If applied to all of this year's U.S. soybean land, farmers would pay an extra $1.87 billion for fungicides next year.
LITTLE IMPACT SEEN ON US EXPORTS
U.S. soybean exports are not likely to be banned because of the disease since other rust-infected countries continued to trade, Collins said.
U.S. soybean exports were valued at $8 billion last year.
The disease will have little impact on American soybean production this year because most of the crop has already been harvested and Louisiana is not a major soy-producing state, the USDA said.
"The risk of an outbreak during the next growing season will depend on how early soybean rust emerges in the southern U.S.," said Neal Bredehoeft, president of the American Soybean Association.
Fields in the coastal states of Texas, Alabama, Mississippi and Florida will be checked for the disease.
Much of North America, including the major soy-producing states in the Midwest, would not be hospitable to the fungus because of cold winter weather, the USDA said. But there was no clear cut-off point for the disease's northward spread.
"If this disease has a toehold in the United States ... it would take some time for it to spread enough to have a major impact on production. But the experience in Brazil indicates it can spread," said Anne Frick, oilseed analyst for Prudential Securities.
USDA told soybean farmers to keep a close watch on their crops. Early symptoms of the disease include small, brown lesions on the soybean plant's leaves.
Sen. Tom Harkin, an Iowa Democrat, criticized the USDA for not being prepared enough for an outbreak.
(Additional reporting by Richard Cowan and Charles Abbott in Washington and Christine Stebbins in Chicago)
