Even though soybean rust was found in Iowa in 2007, the pathogen cannot survive in Iowa. The pathogen can only survive on living plant tissue of susceptible plants. Likely overwintering sites are in Florida and Texas on kudzu and in Central America on legumes, such as jicama and soybean. This means the risk of rust getting to Iowa in 2008 is the same as it was at the beginning of past years. For rust to get to Iowa, it will need to successfully overwinter somewhere in the South and retrace the path it traveled in 2007
