Includes bibliographical references and index.

Soybeans: the emergence of a global crop -- Soybean disease and production losses -- Disease incidence, severity, and conditioning factors -- An economic framework of disease management -- Expectations of incidence, severity, and loss -- Disease control methods and effectiveness -- Costs, profits, and farm demand for disease control -- Farm demand for innovation in disease control -- Supply of inputs for disease control -- Economic benefits from innovation -- Summary and conclusions.

This book, which contains eleven chapters, is concerned with one aspect of the quest for productivity, the economics of managing diseases that affect soyabean production. It begins with a historical account of soyabeans and soyabean production, charting their growth from a simple forage crop of little consequence to one of the world's most important commodities. It goes on to review the range of significant soyabean diseases, the ways they damage the crop, and their impacts on soyabean production. The book then narrows its focus to one class of soyabean pathogens for a more detailed analysis: the oomycetes, which cause both seedling and mid-season diseases. Within this context, the chapter examines the various chemical, genetic, and agronomic practices available to farmers for controlling oomycetes, and analyses their decision-making process in choosing among alternatives. Next, it analyses the economic impacts of the aggregated decisions of soyabean farmers and how those impacts are distributed among producers and consumers worldwide. It also examines how producer decisions, individually and in the aggregate, along with technical, regulatory, and other factors, shape industry decisions on R&D investments and the supply of future innovations for disease control.

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Title from PDF title page (viewed May 16, 2019).