The yield-cutting soyabean rust fungus was found in North Carolina's Edgecombe County, the farthest north in the United States the fungus has been discovered this year, the US Agriculture Department said Tuesday.
Located roughly 60 miles east of Raleigh, Edgecombe County is 50 miles south of North Carolina's border with Virginia.
"Edgecombe County, N.C., is the farthest north ... location where soyabean rust has been found in 2005," the USDA said on its Internet site devoted to tracking the disease.
Rust has spread as far east as North Carolina's Hyde County, and as far west as Louisiana's East Baton Rouge Parish, the USDA said.
The USDA had no immediate details about the discovery in Edgecombe County.
"As the growing season has finished or nearly finished in most regions, the threat of rust has diminished," USDA said.
"It may be expected that rust will continue to be found in more counties within states already reporting rust and in adjacent states without causing any economic damage."