Agriculture Production: USDA's Preparation for Asian Soybean Rust

摘要

To determine the U.S. Department of Agricultures (USDA) efforts to develop and implement an Asian Soybean Rust (ASR) surveillance strategy to identify and protect against ASRs entry into the United States and to test and verify suspect cases, we interviewed officials from USDAs Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service (CSREES), and Agricultural Research Service (ARS) to identify actions that the department took before November 2004, when the first case of ASR was confirmed in the continental United States. In addition, we discussed these actions with USDAs Special Assistant for Pest Management Policy. We also reviewed pertinent documents regarding USDAs efforts to educate growers and others to identify, report, and test suspected cases of ASR.