A $900,000 grant from the USDA-National Research Initiative is going to help farmers, Extension specialists and scientists trace the spread of Asian soybean rust on a national Web site.

"[Producers] will be able to see [rust spread] in real time," says plant epidemiologist Forrest Nutter of Iowa State University, who is leading the project. Initial efforts will first focus on Asian soybean rust.

The long-term goal of the project is to develop a system that will detect any disease or pest that threatens American agriculture.

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"Models will predict where we think rust will occur based on the spread of spores and wind," he says. "In the case of Asian soybean rust it will provide information to growers so they don't apply fungicides too early or too late," Nutter says.

The web-based project will allow producers to view national, state or county level maps that depict where the rust disease is present or predicted to have already spread.

The real-time disease and pest risk maps will use information from the National Plant Diagnostic Network, satellite imaging and geographical information systems (GIS). Predictions of where they could spread will be accomplished using atmospheric transport models, which predict the time and distance pathogen spores are disseminated beyond the point where the disease was initially found.

Satellite imaging and will allow the system to look outside the United States to find and monitor pathogens approaching the country. Nutter says light reflecting off plants can be used to detect diseases based on the different "reflective signatures," as well as the unique "temporal and spatial injury patterns" the diseases and pests cause.

Nutter adds that the network in place today is the key to informing producers about the spread of pests and diseases.

"Two years ago, without this national network, researchers, plant diagnosticians, and the public in general here in Iowa wouldn't know about what pathogens and pests were being detected and diagnosed in Illinois or any other state for that matter."

The site is scheduled to be available to trace Asian soybean rust as early as May 2005 and will be developed by scientists at Iowa State, the Iowa Space Grant Consortium and the Great Plains Plant Disease Diagnostic Network through the three-year grant.

StopSoybeanRust.com is a Web site with information and resources about Asian soybean rust, created by the Greenbook, Dealer & Applicator magazine and Successful Farming magazine. It is sponsored by Bayer CropScience US. Content is provided by a variety of sources including the United Soybean Board and the Crop Advisor Institute.