Iowa Soybean Rust Web Page

Published: 12/10/2007

Risk of soybean rust for 2008

Even though soybean rust was found in Iowa in 2007, the pathogen cannot survive in Iowa. The pathogen can only survive on living plant tissue of susceptible plants. Likely overwintering sites are in Florida and Texas on kudzu and in Central America on legumes, such as jicama and soybean. This means the risk of rust getting to Iowa in 2008 is the same as it was at the beginning of past years. For rust to get to Iowa, it will need to successfully overwinter somewhere in the South and retrace the path it traveled in 2007.
What happens if soybean rust gets to Iowa earlier in the season?

09/28/2007

AMES, Iowa -- Iowa State University has confirmed the presence of soybean rust infection from plant samples taken this week from a field in Dallas County.

“We knew this discovery was a real possibility because of the spore delivery from the south,” said Bill Northey, Iowa Secretary of Agriculture. “The good news is that since it is so late in the growing season, spraying is not necessary and any infection would not be expected to reduce yields.”

This is the first confirmed case of the disease found during the growing season in Iowa. But Iowa State plant pathologists stressed that the discovery coming so late in the growing season is fortunate timing for soybean growers.