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Strategies & Market Trends : Natural Resource Stocks -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Cogito Ergo Sum who wrote (22304)	3/3/2005 2:45:51 AM
From: c.hinton	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 108616

That same year, the crop value exceeded $18.4 billion. In Zimbabwe, South Africa, Paraguay and Brazil, Asian soyabean rust has destroyed up to 80% of the plants....... Rust never sleeps Dec 9th 2004 \| LITTLE ROCK From The Economist print edition The spores of wrath have descended on a southern crop AP Like a hurricane A CLOUD of deadly spores from a faraway continent looms over the rural South. It can destroy millions of acres of crops. While local politicians panic, Washington fiddles. A B-movie matinée? Alas, no; Arkansas, right now. Asian soyabean rust, a lethal fungus that attacks soyabean plants, landed recently in the United States. Scientists believe that one or more of this year's many hurricanes carried the spores from South America to the states on the Gulf of Mexico. Once there, the spores travelled more than 300 miles a day, infecting nine states in just over a month. Although this year's soyabean crop is already in, the disease could ruin next year's harvest, especially in states like Arkansas, which ranks first in the South and ninth in the country in producing soyabeans. The disease blights more than soyabeans. The spores also attack kudzu (a leguminous creeper that has become a plague in parts of the South), blackeye peas (a staple of southern cuisine), lima beans and some clovers. Winter cold will not kill the fungus; instead, the spore clouds will shift to the warmer southern states and roll out next year during the early growing season. United States The environment Agriculture Soyabean Rust Information So far, no soyabean variety can withstand the rust. At best, resistant plants are six to eight years away. Although the rust can be managed with three fungicides, it has to be spotted early. Treating the disease could eat up a soyabean farmer's entire yearly profit. If the rust becomes uncontrollable, then a state's entire soyabean crop could be destroyed in just a few days. Since Arkansas has an early planting season, scientists say the rust could find a firm footing in the state. There it could generate a massive load of spores and travel to prime soyabean acreage in the mid-west, destroying most of the American crop. In 2003, the United States supplied 40% of the world's soyabean trade. That same year, the crop value exceeded $18.4 billion. In Zimbabwe, South Africa, Paraguay and Brazil, Asian soyabean rust has destroyed up to 80% of the plants. Arkansas's congressmen and senators, alarmed that their state may be the gateway for such havoc, recently asked for $715,000 in federal funds to fight the disease. The usually overgenerous United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has not yet decided whether to help. Many farmers fear that the government knows the disease is uncontrollable, prefers not to spend money on a losing battle, and will leave them instead to fend for themselves. Yet in a farming state like Arkansas, which grew nearly $800m worth of soyabeans last year, farmers cannot afford to dither while the USDA decides. They can see the spore-cloud coming, even if the men in Washington can't.