AMES, Iowa — The Iowa Soybean Rust Team, which has served as a nationwide model for detecting Asian soybean rust in the United States, said last Friday that any likely spread of rust that was found on a west central Iowa county farm would be slowed by harvest and drought-like conditions in the south central parts of the nation.

“Currently, the only discovery of Asian soybean rust has been in Dallas County,” said David Wright, director of contract research at the Iowa Soybean Assoc. (ISA), which coordinates the Iowa Soybean Rust Team. “Because Iowa’s soybean crop is being harvested it is unlikely that any new locations will be identified.

“The movement of rust into Iowa soybean fields had little economic impact on soybean producers because it moved in very late in the growing season,” he said. “Drought-like conditions in Louisiana and Texas slowed the movement of rust northward.”

Last month, Iowa State University (ISU) plant pathologists had confirmed the presence of soybean rust infection on plant samples taken from a soybean field in Dallas County.

“We knew this discovery was a real possibility because of the spore delivery from the south,” said Iowa Agriculture Secretary Bill Northey. “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.”

ISU plant pathologists said this is the first confirmed case of the plant disease found during the growing season in Iowa, adding that the discovery coming so late in the growing season is fortunate timing for soybean growers.

Wright said rust discovered in Iowa late in the growing season would have reduced the amount of yield loss if it were found early in the growing season, since growers would be faced with the decision of spending money to control the disease or face yield loss.

Wright added that it’s likely that rust would return sometime during the next growing season.

Recent cases of rust infection also have been discovered in Illinois, Kansas and Missouri, which is spread from southern states by wind and air currents. The Iowa Soybean Rust Team has recruited and trained more than 600 agribusiness professionals around Iowa to be “First Detectors” who could examine leaf samples and decide whether they warrant further analysis by ISU extension specialists or faculty scientists to detect possible infection. For more information about soybean rust, visit www.soybeanrust.info