Comparison of the cumulative total per hectare economic loss (USD) from 1996 to 2016 due to disease categories at (A) northern and southern US. (B) different yield zones (1–4). (C) different harvest zones (1–4). (D) different production zones (1–4). Northern region = Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, and Wisconsin; Southern region = Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia; Yield/Harvest/Production zones = represent four levels (zone 1–4) based on the quartiles within a data base containing 588 yield (kg/ha)/harvest area (ha)/production (MT) data points (588 = 21 years × 28 states). Within this data base, data points from the minimum to the first quartile were classified as zone 1. Similarly, data points from the first quartile to median, median to the third quartile, and > third quartile were respectively classified as zones 2, 3, and 4. Bacterial = Bacterial blight; Foliar = Anthracnose, Cercospora leaf blight (purple seed stain), Diaporthe-Phomopsis, Downy mildew, Frogeye leaf spot, Pod and stem blight, Rhizoctonia aerial blight, Septoria leaf spot, and Soybean rust; Nematodes = Heterodera glycine (soybean cyst nematode), Meloidogyne spp. (root-knot nematodes), Rotylenchulus reniformis (reniform nematode), Belonolaimus longicaudatus (sting nematode), Helicotylenchus spp. (spiral nematodes), Hoplolaimus spp. (lance nematodes), Paratrichodorus spp. (stubby root nematodes), and Pratylenchus spp. (lesion nematodes); Stem/Root = Brown stem rot, Charcoal rot, Fusarium wilt, Phytophthora root and stem rot, Sclerotinia stem rot (white mold), Seedling diseases (caused by a complex of organisms such as multiple species of Fusarium, Pythium, Phomopsis, and/or Rhizoctonia solani), Southern blight, Stem canker, and Sudden death syndrome; Virus = Alfalfa mosaic virus, Bean pod mottle virus, Bean yellow mosaic virus, Peanut mottle virus, Soybean dwarf virus, Soybean mosaic virus, Soybean vein necrosis virus, Tobacco ringspot virus, Tobacco streak virus, and Tomato spotted wilt virus; Other diseases = black root rot, Cercospora leaf blight, Cylindrocladium parasticum (red crown rot), green stem syndrome, Neocosmospora root rot, Pythium root rot, target spot, and Texas root rot.