Every year, a group of researchers and Extension specialists monitor kudzu and soybeans for Asian soybean rust.
Although they had found the disease, caused by Phakopsora pachyrhizi, on kudzu in several Southeast counties earlier this season, they now have confirmed the first case of it in Georgia soybeans this season, according to a Twitter post by University of Georgia Extension plant pathologist Bob Kemerait.
It was found in the Stripling Irrigation Research Park in Mitchell County.
“Earliest jump in years. GA Soybean producers take note,” he wrote.
To monitor the disease’s spread, visit https://soybean.ipmpipe.org/soybeanrust/, a collaborative pest mapping and forecasting system supported by several land-grant colleges.