Soybean rust PIPE: Past, present, and future

Soybean (Glycine max Merrill) is a very important and valuable field crop, with uses for food, feed, and industrial applications, produced on ≈75 million acres in the United States each year. Soybean rust (SBR), a potentially devastating disease of soybean caused by the fungus Phakospora pachyrhizi Sydow, was first detected in the Continental United States in the fall of 2004. Beginning in 2005, the SBR-Pest Information Platform for Extension and Education (PIPE), has been used to provide soybean farmers and agricultural professionals with: (1) near real-time information on the distribution and severity of SBR in North America; (2) time-sensitive SBR risk assessments; (3) information on SBR management options; and (4) links to other important tools and information on SBR. The main goal of the SBR-PIPE was (and is) to provide soybean farmers with the information needed to make the best possible SBR management decisions. The "engine" for the SBR-PIPE is state-of-the-art information technology delivered through the Internet. The "fuel" for the engine is accurate and timely SBR monitoring data and observations made by trained individuals, as well as publicly available weather data used to run SBR predictive models. Since 2005, the SBR-PIPE has successfully met the needs of U.S. soybean industry and is estimated to have saved farmers between $209-299M, annually. This article describes the origin, function, successes, limitations, and future of the SBR PIPE.