The soybean cyst nematode (SCN) remains the most important, economically limiting threat to soybean growers in the North Central U.S., and yield losses will continue to increase in the near future. In recent years, an increase in the occurrence of aggressive SCN populations that can feed and reproduce on resistant varieties has been widely documented throughout the North Central United States (Faghihi et al. 2010, Howland et al. 2018, Niblack et al. 2003, Niblack et al. 2008). With only one readily available commercial source of resistance to SCN (PI 88788), this trend will continue and expose growers to levels of yield loss from SCN that have not occurred since the 1980’s. Evidence from >25,000 field research plots 15 years of SCN-resistant variety evaluations demonstrates that a 23% yield reduction (14.1 bu/ac) is expected when PI 88788 has lost effectiveness (McCarville et al. 2017). In addition, losses from other plant-parasitic nematodes and pathogens that interact with SCN deliver an economic hit to growers that limit profitability.

Eight years ago, a public-private partnership called “The SCN Coalition” was formed, with the objective to help growers reduce their risk to the yield threat posed by the breakdown of SCN resistance by actively managing SCN. Recently, that mission has expanded to include other plant-parasitic nematodes that attack soybean and plant pathogens that interact with SCN. To date, partners include nine agrochemical companies, over two dozen universities and state, regional and national checkoff organizations. Critically, development and success of The SCN Coalition is directly linked to support from the NCSRP. The NSCRP resources have been leveraged extensively to secure direct financial support from the United Soybean Board (USB) and private corporate partners that support complementary SCN Coalition activities and additional highly significant in-kind support from the private sector. To date, that leverage has built total support (direct and in-kind) for the SCN Coalition of nearly $15M (approximately $1.9M NCSRP, $2.2M USB, $1.3M private partner direct financial support, and $9.5M private partner in-kind support).

Since its launch, the SCN Coalition has generated more than 80 million potential impressions through agricultural media, more than 8 million potential impressions on social media and the ‘Let’s Talk Todes’ program generated over 2 million views. Between 2015 and 2020, an increase of 6% to 18% more U.S. soybean growers reported utilizing tools to actively manage SCN. Using conservative estimates, the economics value of the increase in active management is >$100M gains annually for U.S. soybean growers.

Despite great improvements in understanding and management, data suggests large numbers of growers (in most cases the majority) can still improve their yield by incorporating active management tools. Additionally, the private and public sectors are making significant advancements in research, and we believe those advances need to be made more visible to growers in order to get them to quickly adopt and economically benefit from their usage as they become available.

In this proposal, we seek to build on the success of The SCN Coalition to focus on the economics of SCN, research advances in SCN management, and continue to expand information on other nematodes and pathogens that interact with SCN.

1. SCN Coalition Partner Relations and Recruitment.
2. SCN Coalition Management.
3. SCN Coalition Ongoing Communications.

For Objective 1. Maintaining relationships with the nine current industry partners (BASF, Bayer, Corteva, Growmark, Nufarm, Syngenta, UPL, Valent, Winfield United) and continued recruiting of new partners are critical for consistent and coordinated messaging, and sustaining financial support.

For Objective 2. Support SCN Coalition leadership to participate in and facilitate core team and committee meetings and calls; to update Coalition training presentations and other educational materials as research progresses; to develop new educational materials as needed (i.e., PI mailings, banners and signage, online tracking tools, etc.) for SCN Coalition land-grant university members; and to continue consensus-building efforts and support for the feedback loop among all members of The SCN Coalition as it grows and evolves in 2024. These activities will include partners from checkoff organizations, industry and academic institutions.

For Objective 3. Ongoing communications efforts include arranging print, radio and TV interviews for Coalition leaders in ag media outlets; cooperating with ag media outlets to provide custom SCN information and resources as requested; coordinating with Coalition leaders and other researchers to develop topics for news releases, articles, position papers, our monthly e-newsletter and three-times-weekly social media efforts; and outreach to existing and new potential media partners. We propose updating The SCN Coalition University Experts website pages, allowing experts to incorporate information about Southern root-knot, reniform and lesion nematodes into their recommendations to advance active soybean-parasitic nematode management and protect soybean yields. This new content will be promoted via press releases and media relations, as well as the Coalition’s social media channels.

Update:
Progress Report: The SCN Coalition: Building on the Impact of the Public-Private Partnership
Date: March 27, 2024
Prepared by: Sam Markell, North Dakota State University

Background

The SCN Coalition is a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) of soybean checkoff, private companies and universities. The mission of The SCN Coalition is to conduct an SCN resistance management and awareness campaign to educate growers and industry on the reality of soybean cyst nematode (SCN) resistance development, to slow the development of highly aggressive SCN populations, and to minimize increasing levels of yield loss. The North Central Soybean Research Program (NCSRP) provides foundational funding that has led to one of the largest and most effective PPPs ever developed to manage an agricultural pest. NCSRP’s funds allow for the communications and management of partner relations that makes The SCN Coalition work.

Below, we present updates on The SCN Coalition activities in three parts; I) Mission and Activities in FY2024, II) Outputs and Outcomes in FY2024 and III) Planning Beyond FY2024.



Part I. Mission and Activities in FY2024 (and relevant activities leading up to FY2024)

To accomplish our mission, we aim to increase active management of SCN, and encourage growers to talk to their crop advisors about the four primary management actions (soil testing, rotation, resistance, seed treatments) so they can develop a strategy that best fits their farm. We have leveraged NCSRP funding from multiple sources; all funding is complementary and not codependent. Funding from the NCSRP supports the communication and partner relations of The SCN Coalition (it is central to everything The SCN Coalition does). Leveraged funding received from corporate private partners supports primarily national activities of The SCN Coalition. As examples, in FY2022, this included the “SCN Root Check” campaign sponsored by Valent, “Talking Todes Together with BASF” and media relations at the Farm Progress Show to showcase BASF’s SCN Action Month program. In FY2023, these included the development of the SCN Profit Checker Tool (funded by USB), and declaration of Oct. 2, 2023 as National Nematode Day (NND) (fully funded by Bayer, BASF, Nufarm, and Syngenta). Throughout, in-kind funding from private corporate partners (media, advertising, etc.) multiplies The SCN Coalition messages. Some aforementioned projects are still being conducted or expanded upon in FY2024.

In April 2024, The SCN Coalition will hold hour-long virtual meetings with its private partners to provide updates on its results and activities and discuss ways their direct and indirect funding can support the mission and activities of The SCN Coalition. Also in April, The SCN Coalition anticipates at least two virtual update sessions for our University colleagues to ensure coordination of activities and discuss ways to leverage Coalition strengths for local growers. Updates to NCSRP and USB staff/leadership will be made as needed (or requested). Throughout the remainder of the project cycle, The SCN Coalition anticipates direct and/or leveraged activities may include; an expansion of the Profit Checker Tool, engagement with Agricultural Media and social media, press releases, support of partner activities (such as SCN Awareness month) and more.



Part II. Outputs and Outcomes in FY2024

Select Summary Highlights

Online coverage associated with Southern Root Knot Map, National Nematode Day, SCN Profit Checker, SCN Experts Share How to Put SCN Soil Test Results into Action, and Novel Discovery Could Fortify Farmers’ Defenses Against SCN releases have generated 3.5 million potential online impressions in ag media. The SCN Coalition has seen an increase in new visitors to TheSCNCoalition.com, with 44,976 new users in FY2024. We anticipate SCN sample increases in member states as a result of the tool and four videos promoting SCN Profit Checker.

Media and Communication

Media and communication activities have continued steadily through the first half of this cycle. Media results since the launch of The SCN Coalition in February 2018 to February 29, 2024:
• The SCN Coalition has been mentioned in 1,005 online articles, resulting in 41.8 million potential online impressions, which represents 11.43% of the total share of online discussion of SCN.
• A total of 227 articles in print publications results in a total of 21.7 million potential impressions.
• Broadcast outreach exceeds 316 million. (Most stations don’t provide potential reach/impressions.)
• Let’s Talk Todes video series resulted in more than 2 million views.
During the first part of FY2024, three news releases have been distributed to ag media:
• Marketing National Nematode Day with $500 Sweepstakes Drawings (Distributed Oct. 2, 2023; 21% open rate, 5 online articles, 213,145 potential impressions. Combined with the FY2023 National Nematode Day release distribution, there have been 25 online articles, resulting in 1.4 million potential online impressions.)
• SCN Experts Share How to Put SCN Soil Test Results into Action* (Distributed Dec. 11, 2023; 37% open rate, 14 online articles, 516,752 potential online impressions.)
• Novel Discovery Could Fortify Farmers’ Defenses Against SCN (GmSNAP02 gene discovery) (Distributed Jan. 30, 2024; 33% open rate, 28 online articles, 1.4 million potential online impressions.)
*Thirteen (13) of the 14 “SCN Experts Share How to Put SCN Soil Test Results into Action” articles also mention The SCN Coalition Profit Checker calculator; 514,802 of “SCN Experts Share How to Put SCN Soil Test Results into Action” news release coverage potential reach added to SCN Profit Checker potential reach increases SCN Profit Checker potential online impressions (for FY2024) to 1,853,016.

SCN Website and Social Metrics

The SCN Coalition has seen an increase in new visitors to TheSCNCoalition.com, with 44,976 total new users Oct. 1, 2023 – Feb. 29, 2024. Total website users Oct. 1, 2018 – Feb. 29, 2024, is 160,074.

The SCN Coalition continues to grow our social media presence, garnering the following potential impressions and new followers Oct. 1, 2023 – Feb. 29, 2024:
• X, formerly known as Twitter: 723,600 impressions Oct. 1, 2023 – (February 29) March 1, 2024.
• Facebook: 2,387,374 impressions Oct. 1, 2023 – (February 29) March 1, 2024.
• LinkedIn: 752,326 impressions Oct. 1, 2023 – (February 29) March 1, 2024.
• X, formerly known as Twitter: 25 (X is not providing data for November/December 2023) new followers: Oct. 1, 2023 – (February 29) March 1, 2024.
• Facebook: 43 new followers Oct. 1, 2023 – (February 29) March 1, 2024.
• LinkedIn: 150 new followers Oct. 1, 2023 – (February 29) March 1, 2024.

Google Ads

• 34,827 impressions; 3.08% average click-through rate.

Awards

In January, The SCN Coalition was awarded the Region 3 Best of NAMA (National Agri-Marketing Association) Merit award for ‘Unique Sponsored Campaign – National Nematode Day.’ The entry is now being considered for a national title at the awards ceremony scheduled for April 24, 2024. NAMA is the largest agri-marketing association in the U.S.



Part III. Planning beyond FY2024

Recently, a complementary and non-codependent proposal (FY2025) has been submitted to the United Soybean Board. USB has not yet notified PI’s of the status. The proposal, titled ‘Uniting expertise and innovative learning tools to combat parasitic nematodes in soybean, focuses on developing educational materials that reflect current knowledge and recommendations on economically important soybean nematodes, including root-knot (RKN), reniform, lesion, and soybean cyst nematodes (SCN). This continues the evolution of the SCN Coalition to include other nematodes and nematode-interacting soybean pathogens of soybean.

In the next month, private-partner meetings will be held. In recent years, these meetings have resulted in the development of novel programs and collaborations, and commitments for direct and indirect funding and support for The SCN Coalition activities. Commonly, spring meetings will result in activities and outcomes into the next fiscal year (FY2025). We are hopeful for strong future NCSRP-leveraged and coordinated activities with our excellent private sector partners!

View uploaded report

Despite great improvements in understanding and management, data suggests large numbers of growers can still improve their yield by incorporating active SCN management tools. In 2020, growers reported that SCN was costing them approximately 5.1 bu/ac. Data suggests that genetic rotation, crop rotation and seed treatment can reduce this number, thereby increasing grower profits. We will deliver current, relevant research-based information to growers, so they can make the best decisions for their farm to limit losses to SCN. The SCN Coalition is in an excellent position to continue to leverage NCSRP funds, which multiples the management messages to soybean growers increasing the impact of this program.