Your blight, my boon

Soybean rust has become more than a headache for Brazilian farmers, now faced with higher costs to fight the blight while the price of soy spirals downward. This Times piece points out that although Brazil was expected to overtake the U.S. in soybean production next year, the threat of rust will probably dampen those expectations. (Meanwhile, although the U.S. had a bumper crop this year, rust was found in some Southern states after the harvest. 2005 will be "wait-and-see.")

Asian soy rust is a disease that attacks the leaves of soybean plants, quickly stripping them and exposing early pods. It moves quickly once it's established (see this picture on Syngenta's Web site) and so far, the only way to prevent the spread is to apply pesticides. Unsurprisingly, the chemical industry is far from saddened that this disease may turn into an epidemic. From the Times article:

Brazilian farmers are expected to spend $500 million on fungicides this season to combat soy rust, up from $350 million in the last harvest, according to industry estimates. Bayer CropScience, for instance, already sells three types of fungicide for the disease and plans to introduce a fourth next year.

"The emergence of soy rust," said Peter Ahlgrimm, director of institutional relations at Bayer CropScience in São Paulo, "has created a promising new market."