The American Soybean Association (ASA) has published an online edition of its highly regarded Soybean Rust Reference Guide here on the Association’s web site SoyGrowers.com. This new members-only resource is an expanded version of the Guide ASA distributed to all ASA members in early January 2005.  The printed and online Guide include a special message from ASA’s President, and a section that outlines the steps the Association has taken to prepare for soybean rust and how these efforts are now paying off.  Soybean rust background information is provided, as well as an overview of fungicide application challenges, detailed information about the timing of a soybean rust outbreak, instructions for scouting for soybean rust and how to identify diseases with similar symptoms.

Sections are provided to help growers develop a soybean rust defense strategy and secure appropriate fungicides, including a chart that shows the available soybean rust fungicide products and their mode of action. Plant resistance management is discussed, and a wealth of recommendations are provided by industry experts from crop protection and equipment companies.

Unique to the expanded, online edition are sections covering ASA educational programs that provide soybean rust PowerPoint presentations, speaker audio recordings, an ASA Soybean Rust Backgrounder, an ASA Soybean Rust Growers Guide and information about upcoming soybean rust educational seminars. 

Various sections also provide frequently asked questions about soybean rust and how best to combat the disease, and access to specific information about soybean rust forecasting and probability, fungicide labels and fungicide field trials. Organized links to additional information from commercial, federal and state government and university resources are also provided throughout the site both within specific sections and cross-referenced by topic.

ASA thanks BASF, Bayer CropScience, Dow AgroSciences, DuPont, John Deere, Nitragin, Sipcam Agro USA, Inc., Syngenta, and TeeJet Spray Products for sponsoring ASA’s Soybean Rust Reference Guide." ASA also thanks staff members at USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) for their assistance and guidance in the planning and preparation of ASA’s soybean rust grower seminars and educational materials.