A study by the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y., estimated that the annual economic damage associated with the effects and control of alien invasive species totals almost $120 billion in the U.S. and its territories.

While the world’s pest complex has been shifting for centuries, the pace of new species entering the U.S. by land, air and sea has increased dramatically in the past decade. The effect can be felt in the field as well as in the research lab as agricultural companies look beyond conventional land borders for ways to control foreign pests.

“Because we are a global company, we have active ingredients all over the world that allow us to address new pest situations in those localities,” said Eric Tedford, technical product leader for fungicides at Syngenta.

Soybean rust (SBR) is one example. It has existed since the early part of the 20th century; however, it largely was confined to Asia until recently, when it spread to Africa and then to South America about 2000. It is thought to have crossed into North America when its wind-borne spores blew in with Hurricane Ivan, a Category 5 hurricane that raked the Caribbean, South America and the U.S. in 2004. According to USDA data, SBR continues to threaten portions of the U.S. and was reported in 13 states in 2012.

Monitoring and treating the pathogen in Brazil allowed researchers to apply their knowledge of the disease from that geography and have fungicides in the pipeline when it spread to the U.S., Tedford said.

Other foreign pests on the radar:

• Ug99 wheat stem rust is a new strain discovered in Uganda in 1999. It has the ability to overcome the most widely used stem rust-resistant genes and has inflicted terrible yield losses on African wheat. Ug99 has spread via wind through Africa, Asia and the Middle East. Today, the race is on to breed a strain of plants resistant to the Ug99 fungus before it reaches the U.S.

• Red leaf blotch has led to yield losses of as much as 50 percent in soybeans in Africa. The pathogen causing red leaf blotch latches onto soil, tools or clothing. For now, movement is confined to central and southern Africa. Researchers think the pathogen could survive and over-season anywhere in the U.S. should it spread.

• Mad soybean disease is spreading slowly through Brazil and prohibits soybeans from producing seed, causing crop losses of as much as 60 percent. It is spread by physical contact from infected plants. If it continues to move northward, it could reach the U.S. and devastate soybean crops.

For information about invasive species in your area, contact your local extension agent or go towww.csrees.usda.gov/Extension/index.html.

For a more general overview, visit www.invasivespecies.gov.

Fonte: http://www.tristateneighbor.com/news/regional/crop-pests-show-disda...