St. Louis, Missouri
June 4, 2004
The
American Soybean
Association (ASA) is urging the U.S. Department of
Agriculture (USDA) to more rapidly undertake development of a
national strategy for controlling and mitigating the potential
for an Asian soybean rust infestation in the continental
United States. Rust is a devastating disease with the
potential to cause enormous losses in annual U.S. soybean
production, resulting in serious consequences for domestic
industry, including the livestock sector.
“Much more aggressive and
coordinated action is needed from the Administration to
prevent potentially adverse consequences to the U.S. soybean
industry,” said ASA President Ron Heck, a soybean producer
from Perry, Iowa. “ASA has asked Secretary Veneman to take
immediate steps to ensure that U.S. agriculture is fully
prepared to respond to and mitigate the outbreak of rust, and
requested a meeting to more fully discuss these plans.”
According to a computer model
developed by University of Illinois researchers, in
cooperation with USDA scientists, “the disease has most likely
spread to soybean-growing areas in Brazil and Venezuela
located north of the equator, making it inevitable that rust
will reach the U.S. in a relatively short time... If it’s
already established there, we could even see rust in the U.S.
as soon as the current growing season and certainly no later
than a year or two down the road.”
ASA, a membership organization
representing 25,000 soybean producers, believes the United
States is woefully unprepared at the present time to deal with
the imminent threat of a soybean rust outbreak, and that there
are a number of actions USDA, the Environmental Protection
Agency, and other Federal agencies must take that are critical
to mitigate the impact of the rust fungus upon arrival.
Key among these is approval of
effective fungicides for use on soybean rust, and ensuring
that sufficient quantities of these products be locally
available in advance of a rust infestation. To facilitate
local fungicide supplies, ASA is calling for the development
of a strategy to ensure adequate supplies will be available.
The ASA, in close cooperation
with USDA, state soybean associations, and others in the
soybean industry, has begun a campaign designed to educate
soybean farmers on the facts of soybean rust. Nevertheless,
ASA believes USDA needs to undertake additional educational
efforts to ensure producers, extension agents, crop
consultants and others involved in the field are able to
identify rust as early as possible. Information and education
also must be provided on fungicide application timing,
application equipment recommendations, and other practical
information that is essential to successful efforts to
mitigate and prevent billions of dollars in losses to the U.S.
soybean industry.
“The reality that exists today is
that an effective soybean rust surveillance program is not yet
in place, adequate supplies of cost-effective fungicides
approved for use on soybeans do not exist, and programs to
provide widespread training and education to farmers, crop
consultants, and others have not been implemented,” Heck said.
An ongoing research program is
being carried out by the Agricultural Research Service (ARS) to
develop rust resistant or tolerant soybean varieties. The
soybean checkoff has provided more than $1.1 million in soybean
producer checkoff funds to support soybean rust research, and
ASA is working with Congress to increase appropriations to fund
additional work by ARS scientists.
“Research to identify rust
resistant or tolerant soybean varieties must be greatly
expanded,” Heck said.
Over the course of the last two
years, ASA has worked closely with USDA Under Secretary Bill
Hawks and USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service
(APHIS) to establish protocols for imports of soybean planting
seed and soybean meal from rust-infested countries that,
properly enforced, can effectively eliminate the risk of
contamination. ASA is now seeking to ensure that any protocol
developed for importing whole soybeans from these countries will
be equally effective.
“ASA appreciates the ongoing
efforts by the Department to prevent the introduction of rust in
the United States as the result of imports,” Heck said.
“However, until key scientific questions are answered and spore
viability studies are completed, ASA believes imports of whole
commodity soybeans from rust-infected countries should not be
contemplated.”
ASA and other industry
stakeholders are very concerned about the prospective arrival of
Asian rust in the United States and are prepared to work with
USDA and other agencies to develop a comprehensive plan that
anticipates and initiates appropriate responses to rust.
“We must acknowledge the potential that Asian rust will spread
to the United States this year or in the next several years,”
Heck said. “USDA must take every science-based measure to
prevent the introduction of rust into the U.S., as well as take
immediate steps to ensure that U.S. agriculture is fully
prepared to respond to and mitigate the outbreak of rust.” |
