The RustTracker will, according to its manufacturers, helps growers assess their potential for risk associated with rust by giving them the maximum level of information. The data will be collated from Geographical Information System (GIS) mapping technology, Syngenta's Syntinel spore traps, weather forecasts and USDA's sentinel plots, when they become available.
"With the possibility of soybean rust outbreaks looming on the horizon, growers must have detailed forecasting information if they are to be successful managers rather than victims of the disease," said Valdemar Fischer, president of Syngenta Crop Protection North America.
Over 5 percent of US soybean producers intend to decrease acres due to rust, said a recent report by the Delta Farm Press, though most still remain unconcerned about the disease.
The farmers most concerned were in the Southeast, where 29 percent of soybean producers said that rust was a factor in their planting decisions, and of this group, 63 percent said they intended to decrease acreage because of the affliction.
On the other hand, the farming publication's survey found that "a few producers" - mainly based in the Northeast, Great Lake states and Northern Plains - were actually taking the soybean rust threat in to account and planning to increase the number of acres sown with soybean.
These producers are no doubt hedging their bets on a combination of higher soybean prices or the expectation of minimal impact of the disease on their farms or in their regions.
Nationally, soybean producers intend to plant 73.9 million acres in 2005, according to the USDA. This figure is down 2 percent from last year's record-high acreage. Of the 31 soybean producing states, growers in 16 states intend to plant fewer acres this year, while producers in 11 states intend to plant more acres than in 2004. The largest acreage declines are in the Dakotas.