ND Department of Agriculture Press Releases

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE AUGUST 31, 2006

FUNGICIDES GET PROVISIONAL OKAY FOR SPECIALTY LEGUMES

BISMARCK – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has granted a quarantine exemption for Rally® 40W and Nova® 40W, enabling North Dakota legume producers to use the fungicides to control Asian soybean rust.

Agriculture Commissioner Roger Johnson, who requested the action, cautioned producers that the exemption goes into effect only if the Asian soybean rust is detected in the state.

“We do not really know whether Asian soybean rust affects related crops, such as dry edible beans, dry peas and lentils,” Johnson said. “Since these crops are so important in North Dakota, I believe we must have protective measures in place, just in case this potentially devastating plant disease is detected here.”

The legumes covered by the exemption include dry peas, lentils and dry edible beans, such as navy beans, Great Northern beans and garbanzo beans. North Dakota leads the nation in the production all dry edible beans, dry peas and lentils.

Asian soybean rust (Phakopsora pachyrhizi) was first documented in Japan in 1903. It has caused severe and widespread losses in Asia, Africa and South America. The disease first appeared in the U.S. in 2004 in Louisiana, and has since been found in six other southern states.

The quarantine exemption allows two ground or aerial applications of Rally or Nova at a maximum rate of 2 ounces of active ingredient per acre. A seven-day interval between applications is required, and growers must not harvest treated crops less than 28 days after application.

Applicators must follow directions, restrictions and precautions on the product label and exemption use directions, and have a copy of the exemption use directions in their possession during application.

The exemption allows treatment of 1.3 million acres of specialty legumes in North Dakota, and expires May 31, 2009.

Both Rally and Nova are manufactured by Dow AgroSciences, which supported the exemption. Both products contain the active ingredient myclobutanil.

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MEDIA: For more information, please call Ted Quanrud at (701) 328-2233.