Time to dust off the soybean rust listserv. I promised to send a few messages each year, regardless of the threat of soybean rust, so here I am delivering on my promise. 

It's hard for me to muster up the excitement to even write this update, but it does bring a sense of closure to the season to say – we made it another year without soybean rust affecting Iowa soybeans. That makes 7 years in a row, if anyone besides me is counting.

Update from the south: Much of the southern states are still experiencing very dry conditions. A few states reported some recent rain, but not enough to improve conditions for rust development. Consequently, very little soybean rust has been reported – one new county in Florida and one additional report in Puerto Rico.

Update from the South

I hope that most everyone does not read this email until more acres are planted, but for those poor folks tethered to a computer, much like me, here is the first soybean rust update for 2011.