What is the impact of exotic buckthorn on the agricultural industry?
Exotic buckthorn is a threat to the region’s agricultural industry. Buckthorn is an alternate host for the fungus that causes crown rust in oats. Crown rust is the most widespread and damaging disease of oat crops. Also, exotic buckthorn is the alternate host for the soybean aphid, an insect that infests soybean crops in China, other east Asian countries and Australia. This exotic insect pest was found in the Rochester, Minnesota area during the summer of 2000, where it caused a yield reduction of 8 bushels per acre. This soybean pest overwinters on buckthorn buds and has already been found in Wisconsin, Illinois and Michigan.
