"Early detection of soybean rust vital in fighting fungal disease"

[Tweed]

Pantagraph
Chris Anderson

"BLOOMINGTON -- The discovery of soybean rust in Louisiana two months ago bought time for Illinois growers. They have all winter to prepare for a possible outbreak.
But will they be ready?

"I don't think growers understand how fast the disease can move. They can't just react," said Dave Harms, owner of Crop Pro-Tech, a Bloomington crop consulting firm. "They need to crawl on their hands and knees through their fields. Once every week may not be enough."

An informal poll of farmers attending Tuesday's Corn and Soybean Classic at the Interstate Center showed that they are learning to identify the disease in fields. Most have not pre-paid for fungicides. Some plan to reduce soybean acreage in favor of corn."

http://www.pantagraph.com/stories/011205/bus_20050112044.shtml

This could hit our farms hard. Either some will lose crops next year or the corn market could get flooded by farmers growing more corn this summer, thus dropping the price of corn. It will be interesting to see what kind of government action comes from this.

For future notice, if you want great farm information, trust Chris Anderson of the Pantagraph. She knows her stuff.

[madrchsod]

1. the midwestern farmers have gotten away from

rotating crops,planting different crops,and leaving fields fallow and they will face more these problems in the future. when the united states becomes serious about bio -diversity for building materials and alternates to oil products we will see more of these problems become more serious than they need to be.

[Tweed]

3. So are you suggesting that we don't go into bio-diversity?

Bio-diversity will make things more serious than they need to be? I'm not sure I follow your post. Maybe it's because I'm not a farm expert.

[DrGonzoLives]

4. I think

what he was saying was that midwestern farmers have gotten away from traditional methods of producing healthy crops and keeping the soil fertile. Thing is, in today's market, you almost can't afford to do things like rotate crops and leave a field fallow every fourth year, especially with Big Ag being able to outproduce and swallow you. If we ever do get to the point where we are using bio-diverse stuff, we may not be able to produce it at this point.

[MnFats]

2. well, what can you do about iron chlorosis in soybeans?!?!

i just cringe at the slightest hint of yellowing of the leaves of my soybeans. It could be the dreaded IRON CHLOROSIS!
Which could positively RUIN my yield!

[Tweed]

5. This sounds like bad news

Is there anything you can do to prevent it? The article didn't make it seem very positive. Are you in Northern Illinois or Southern? It seems like Northern is better off. Is there any truth to that?