The risk of soybean rust occurring in Indiana is hard to predict, since the disease depends on the timing, weather patterns and level of the disease in the southern U.S. The sentinel plot system was established in Indiana to monitor the northern spread of the disease. The program has been in place since 2005 and has been able to detect soybean rust in Indiana at low levels in 2006 and 2007. The funding will allow Purdue University researchers to continue the established soybean sentinel plot monitoring program in Indiana.

The sentinel plot program also monitors other destructive soybean pathogens that may be present in Indiana soybean fields. Monitoring of new and emerging diseases...