The University of Minnesota Soybean Breeding program is critical to the development of new early-maturing soybean varieties and incorporation of novel forms of pest and disease resistance into Minnesota-adapted germplasm. The UMN breeding program also conducts a state-wide variety trial of both private and public soybean lines, offering an unbiased source of information to farmers for variety selection. We are proposing to build off past success and continue these activities while developing new database capabilities to lay the foundation for genomics-assisted breeding and gene mapping. The presence of an operating public breeding program is highly beneficial to the development of new-use...