The threat of widespread infestation by the soyabean rust fungus is nearly over for this year's crop, Deputy Agriculture Secretary Chuck Conner said on Thursday.
"I think we're getting close to that point, for this year's crop, that it's not going to appear to have made any major move northward," Conner told reporters after a luncheon speech. So far, rust has been confirmed in 18 counties in four states in the US Southeast - none of them major soyabean states.
The USDA said on Tuesday it found four "rust-like" spores in Illinois, the biggest soyabean-producing US state, but the sample was too small to confirm if it was the highly contagious plant disease.