3 words, Asian Soybean Rust! It has hit South America hard in the last 2 years. Many of the farms there have exchanged hands 2-3 times since the disease hit. Much of Brazil is subtropical, so Asian Soybean Rust never sees a freeze and just keeps reproducing. It is a fungus that keeps generating spores that are taken up into the wind and spread. If conditions are warm and humid (tropics),then it gets bad. Costly fungicide treatments must be frequent and repetitive, not to mention the yield loss of just 10% minimum or as much as 80%. It is South America's worst nightmare and could soon be U.S. next nightmare since it has been reported in louisana, Florida, and Mississippi in this later 2004 season. It can overwinter on Kudzoo or in the soybean residue there if it is not frozen out, then re-generize next spring to be wind born on Gulf stream air heading for Midwest Thunderstorms. It has a slim chance of overwintering in the midwest because of the deep freezes, but could be reintroduced each spring. I think the U.S. will still be a major soybean crop producer though, because so many things are processed from it. But, like our neighbors to the south, we will have to get wiser about producing it. In the next few years, the U.S. will experience more corn following corn since corn rootworm is getting to be more a problem. It is problem because corn rootworm beetles are feeding on growing soybean plants later in season before they lay their eggs in the soybean stubble making it more difficult to continue the corn soybean rotation. Corn Rootworm feeding and Asian Soybean Rust could push more corn acres for the short term.
