Economic losses due to soybean diseases in the United States from 1996 to 2016 amounted to more than $95 billion, according to a team of researchers in Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences who examined the long-term impact of soybean diseases on production in the U.S.
Economic losses due to soybean diseases in the United States from 1996 to 2016 amounted to more than $95 billion, according to a team of researchers in Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences who examined the long-term impact of soybean diseases on production in the U.S.
The findings are significant because the U.S. is the world's primary soybean producer and second-largest exporter, noted Paul Esker, assistant professor of epidemiology and crop pathology in the Department of Plant Pathology and Environmental Microbiology.
“Soybeans are among the most economically important crops in the U.S.,” said Esker, who pointed to U.S. Department of Agriculture statistics that show soybean was cultivated on more than 70 million acres during the 2019 growing season, with total production exceeding 97 million metric tons.
However, quantitative information on crop losses is scarce, hard to obtain, seldom standardized and a challenge to compile and compare across states, agroecosystems and regions, he explained.
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