Free Republic

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - A virulent strain of wheat stem rust, Ug99, that sprung up in Africa in 1999 has now spread into Iran and threatens to spread into other wheat producing regions of Asia and eventually the entire world. That was the warning Dr. Jim Peterson, wheat breeder at Oregon State University and chair of the National Wheat Improvement Committee (NWIC), re-ported to the NAWG Research and Tech-nology Committee during the Commodity Classic in Nashville. Ug99 is a race of stem rust that blocks the vascular tissues in cereal grains including wheat, oats and barley. Unlike leaf or stripe rusts...

NAIROBI - A resilient new strain of wheat fungus from east Africa is threatening to spread to the Middle East, Asia and the Americas and bring catastrophic crop damage, scientists said on Thursday. Researchers said the new Ug99 form of stem rust could be spread by the wind and attacked many varieties of spring and winter wheat that were resistant to other strains of the fungus. The strain could easily spread from Uganda, Kenya and Ethiopia, which were the countries currently affected. "Recognising the potential that this disease has...there‘s almost no one exempt," said Ronnie Coffman, head of Cornell University‘s...