The U.S. has nearly made it through its second growing season in a row without a major outbreak of Asian soybean rust in the Midwest. And Dr. Loren Giesler, plant pathologist with the University of Nebraska at Lincoln Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources, says soybean rust in the Midwest won’t ever be the kind of problem it is in Brazil.

“We really don’t expect that, I don’t think, across the Midwest, to ever be a problem like it is in Brazil consistently,” said Giesler. “The biggest problem probably for U.S. producers in soybean rust management will be the possibility of the inconsistencies in occurrence.”

Giesler says soybean rust does pose a serious threat each year to individual farms. And he says quick treatment is the key to controlling the fungal disease. That’s why he says farmers must keeping scouting for it aggressively even though it may turn up only once in every five or ten years. “It’s just going to really require a lot of scouting efforts that are not going to pay every year,” Giesler said.

Giesler also said that even if soybean rust does turn up in the Midwest this year, it’s too late to do much damage. “At this time of year we’re beyond the time we need to worry about rust,” he said. “So it’s definitely something that they shouldn’t be concerned about now.”

But Giesler said soybean producers should be concerned about soybean cyst nematode (SCN). He encourages farmers to get their soil tested for SCN. And Giesler said farmers should plant SCN-resistant soybean varieties if their fields are infected and rotate SCN-infected soybean fields with corn.

Giesler made his remarks in Wahoo, Nebraska, Friday at the last in a series of field days put on by the Nebraska Soybean Board.

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