The detection of SBR in soybean resulted in the rapid development of tools to monitor and predict disease impact for the 2005growing season and beyond. The NC-504 group began to disseminateinformation on SBR at state, national, and international levels.This group (which evolved into the North Central Extension andResearch Activity or NCERA-208 “Response to emerging threat:Soybean rust” Committee in 2006) coordinated a weekly conferencecall during the growing season among state extension specialistsand soybean researchers. The calls provided updates on SBRconfirmations and coordinated management efforts across multiplestates. These conference calls had as many as 40 participantsweekly from North America