Soybean farmers in the U.S. are warily eyeing reports of soybean rust (Phakopsora pachyrhizi) from South America, according to this report from the Iowa Farm Bureau. The disease, caused by a fungus, has decimated crops in Brazil, and is expected to arrive in the continental U.S. within the next seven years. Soybean rust is expensive to control, and is enough of a threat to have attracted the attention of the USDA, the United Soybean Board, and the Department of Homeland Security, which has granted $1 million to study this "potential terrorism threat."
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