Areas of Expertise
Plant breeding

Research Agronomist
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
217-778-7047
joos@illinois.edu

With more than 20 years of variety trial experience, Darin serves as the cornerstone of the University of Illinois’ Variety Testing program. He manages the state’s soybean, corn and wheat variety testing so the state’s farmers are equipped with the best information when making their annual seed purchase decisions.

Soybean Variety Testing by the Numbers:
Public and private soybean varieties representing the various trait stacks are tested on the major soils in the different maturity zones of the state.

• 250 varieties
• 20 seed companies
• 5 regions

Varieties are evaluated on numerous performance characteristics, including:

• Yield
• Maturity
• Lodging
• Height
• Shattering
• Protein
• Oil

Historically, protein and oil evaluations have been done post-harvest from collected grain samples. New technology added to the combine can make this activity more automated. This is particularly useful as the importance of protein and oil content continues to rise. Soybean farmers will have access to this quality information more quickly so they can choose products to plant with those characteristics and take advantage of premium pricing when it’s available.