Research

The Science for Success partnership brings together soybean Extension personnel from diverse U.S. regions who collaboratively conduct research and leverage historical knowledge to deliver soybean best management practices to US farmers.

Hello again everyone, and welcome to spring (almost). The temps are rising, and we’ve all changed our clocks so planting time will be here very soon. This is the fourth in a series of blog posts from NASS.

This is the third blog post in a series from NASS. […]

At the National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) we take pride in providing reports of agricultural commodities to the public in an unbiased manner, at a pre-determined time. With so much riding on agricultural commodities that provide food, feed, and fuel for the United States and other countries, many of our reports are highly anticipated in the marketplace. With respect to this price discovery impact, NASS works hard to ensure that estimates are as accurate as possible and to protect the confidentiality of information until the exact second the data are released to the public. Once a NASS report is [...]

Hello everyone. My name is Mark Schleusener and I am the Illinois State Statistician for USDA- NASS. I hope that each of you have had a safe and bountiful harvest so far. If you are still running the combine, please be careful and put safety first. The IL Soybean Association asked me to write a series of blog posts and I’m glad to do it. I really appreciate the opportunity to connect with Illinois’ soybean farmers. I hope I can answer some of your questions and provide insight into how NASS operates and why we conduct our surveys of [...]

In modern production agriculture, research and trials have expanded beyond small strip trials and universities. Many producers are developing their own sophisticated, on-farm research.

The North Central Soybean Research Program (NCSRP) recently released its Annual Report which includes 2020 research project summaries. Projects this year covered topics such as sclerotonia stem rot, soybean cyst nematode resistance, soybean gall midge, sudden death syndrome, and more. NCSRP is a farmer-led organization that invests soybean checkoff funds in university research and Extension programs to better understand and manage plant stressors that reduce soybean yield and farmer profitability. It involves 355,000 soybean farmers from 13 states including North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. It is recognized as [...]

U.S. soybean yields have been trending upwards and Illinois soybean yields are running 6.5 bu/A above the trendline, according to the University of Illinois FarmDoc website. In the Illinois Soybean Associations Yield Challenge we have seen yields steadily increase over the past decade. In the early years most of yields were in the 50- to 70-bushel range. Today we see most entries in the 80- and 90-bushel range and a number over 100 bushels. The reasons for these dramatic increases have mainly to do with adoption of new best management practices and early planting, along with improvements in genetics [...]

The University of Wisconsin is leading a regional planting date study. The goal is to compare the yield and profit for earlier planting dates. Earlier planting dates generally have higher yields than later planted soybean. What is needed from collaborators? Plant soybeans at two planting dates, using a similar plot layout shown below Planting dates: Last week of April or as soon as conditions allow and two to three weeks later Harvest the plot using a well calibrated yield monitor Provide the data and management information to us Geographic area of interest Looking specifically for fields shown in the [...]

When municipalities are tasked with determining which road and bridge improvement projects should take precedence, it can be a challenge to prioritize. That was the case in Peoria County, where officials looked at 12 projects to consider repair or replacement. Of the 12, almost an even split existed between rural and urban projects. At first glance, urban projects appeared higher priority because of the larger amount of traffic traveling the roads. However, after a more in-depth evaluation using the Travel Demand Model by engineering firm Hanson Professional Services, officials moved the Trivoli Road Bridge located in rural, southwest Peoria [...]