Purdue's Plant Pathologist Greg Shaner says don't write Asian soybean rust off as a minor threat just because the Corn Belt escaped its potential damage this year. He says 2007 was one of the driest years ever for southern states, and the third successive year of drought conditions, which have combined to suppress Asian rust problems.

“If in some future year southern states receive more rainfall in the spring and early summer, rust could develop more quickly down there, and move into the Midwest earlier in the summer.”

