The Van Trump Report

Soybean Checkoff Research Website Designed with Farmers in Mind

The United Soybean Board recently revealed a new project that aims to make check-off funded research more readily available to farmers. With the help of the North Central Soybean Research Program, they’ve redesigned the Soybean Research & Information Network  (SRIN) website, which they describe as a one-stop-shop for all the information the checkoff has discovered through farmer investments across all Qualified State Soybean Boards (QSSBs) regarding key problem areas in production.

Tim Venverloh, USB Vice President of Sustainability Strategy, explains that the collaboration with QSSBs worked to find solutions, best practices, and data on key issues. Not surprisingly, a lot of research focuses on tolerance and resilience, but the projects run the gamut from combating weather-related challenges to insect management to cover crops. It’s also available for anyone to use. The site itself is really simple and clean and seems easy to use. It also appears to hold an enormous amount of information. Some of the research projects found on the website include:

Finding Flooding Tolerance to Breed Better Soybeans

Increasing Sulfur Levels Can Improve Soybean Quality

Utilizing Genes from the Soybean Germplasm Collection to Mitigate Drought Stress

Measuring Soil Health to Enhance Soybean Yields

Yield Potential of Commercial Varieties Under Drought: Identifying and Overcoming Weakness Via the Public Breeding Pipeline

That’s only a very tiny sample. The website has several different ways to search all that data as well, including by state/region/organization, specific issue (disease, pests), and year. There are also entire sections devoted to agronomics and aquaculture. A diagnostics tool section provides scouting guidelines, diagnostic guides, and resources for getting further help.

In its press release, USB quotes David Nichols, a USB farmer-leader from Ridgely, Tennessee: “It’s even better to have it in what I call ‘turn row terminology’ — in the language farmers can understand and put to use.” From what I checked out, that observation seems accurate and personally, it is a real relief to see research presented in laymen’s terms while it also explains why and how it is relevant. 

USB of course will continue to add other research it has invested in as its made available, and you can sign up to receive alerts. You can watch a video that explains more about the Soybean Research Information Initiative HERE and check out the Soybean Research & Information Network website  HERE.

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