Producing high yielding soybeans in NW MN can be a challenge. In addition to insect pests,
pathogens that infect soybean seedlings and roots, weeds that compete with the crop for limited
resources, nutrient deficiencies and challenging growing conditions can all limit soybean yield
potential in NW MN. This proposal would provide supplemental funding for projects primarily funded
through other sources to hire summer assistance in the Crookston, MN area to aid in research
efforts to examine how best to manage the laundry-list of yield-limiting factors. Additional
assistance is needed for a research trial investigating incorporating winter rye in the fall before
a soybean crop is to be planted.
A pilot demonstration study and field day is also being proposed that seeks to manage both a root
pathogen (SCN) and nutrient deficiency (iron deficiency chlorosis) in soybean. The larger goal with
this pilot study would be for it to provide preliminary data to use to propose to the Agricultural
Fertilizer Research & Education Council (AFREC) a series of on-farm strip trials aimed at
researching how best to manage both SCN and IDC in NW MN.
Lastly, funds are being sought to fund two weeks of the annual salary of UMN Extension educational
content development & communications specialist Phyllis Bongard to assist in project data entry,
creating and formatting tables and graphs for research reports,
research presentations and online web posting.

Objective 1: Hire two temporary, hourly workers to assist with on-farm (OF) and UMN research & outreach center (ROC) data collection and sample processing.
Objective 2: Collect soybean seedlings and dig up and rebury mesh bags containing pathogen survival structures to determine how cover crops impact pathogen survival from which to isolate soybean pathogens in the “Understanding the Impact of Cover Cropping on Disease Development & Soil Health in Minnesota” experiment’s OF and ROC plots.
Objective 3: Collect winter rye biomass, weed species and density data and biomass, soil samples for analysis of soil health metrics and nutrient content, soybean plant stand and soybean yield metrics in the “Planting Green in the Frozen North”, from OF and ROC plots.
Objective 4: Apply post-emergence herbicides, collect weed control ratings (species and percentage control), manage weeds in non-yield rows in the “Integrated Management of Herbicide-Resistant Giant and Common Ragweeds in Minnesota” small plot ROC trial in Crookston.
Objective 5: Collect SCN soil samples in both spring and fall from which to estimate SCN egg counts, collect foliar IDC ratings and soybean yield parameters in the OF “Tackling Twin Threats to Soybean in NW MN: SCN & IDC” pilot study.
Objective 6: Hold an in-season, OF field day focusing on IDC, SCN and the “Tackling Twin Threats to Soybean in NW MN: SCN & IDC” study being conducted on-farm in Norman County near Gary, MN. This field day is essential to remind farmers in NW MN of the tremendous threat that SCN poses to long-term soybean production, how to test for and manage it.
Objective 7: Data entry, analysis, summarizing, table and graph formatting and development of print and PowerPoint-mediated data summaries of results of 2024 research projects for use at existing winter meetings (MN Wheat On-farm Research Summit, Norman County Ag Day, NW MN Small Grains Update meetings (if Dr. Kee again has a conflict or there is more than one soybean topic covered) and West Polk SWCD Soil Health Club meetings and in print booklet distributed at Prairie Grains Conference and Small Grains Update meetings: Minnesota Wheat Research Review: On-farm cropping trials northwest and west central.

In the short term, MSRPC council members and NW MN farmers and crop advisors would have access to
research summaries for four different research projects investigating how best to manage many of
the soybean yield-limiting factors present in NW MN. This access would come in multiple forms,
including:
• A summer field day focused on IDC and SCN
• Online research summaries (UMN Extension and MN Wheat websites)
• Print research summaries (“Minnesota Wheat Research Review: On-farm cropping trials northwest
and west central” booklet) distributed at winter meetings in NW MN.
• Winter meeting presentations, for example:
o MN Wheat On-farm Research Summit,
o Norman County Ag Day,
o NW MN Small Grains Update meetings (if Dr. Kee again has a scheduling conflict or there were to
be two soybean topics)
o West Polk SWCD Soil Health Club meetings,
o Private Pesticide Applicator Training workshops in NW MN.

Longer-term, MN soybean producers would benefit from research-based management recommendations that
could help them to:
• improve degradation of inoculum of soybean pathogens capable of causing significant yield
losses,
• decrease the risk of nutrient tie-up, seedling disease and yield losses when incorporating a
winter rye cover crop before soybean,
• better integrate techniques to better manage herbicide-resistant broadleaf weeds in
soybean
• better manage both SCN and IDC in NW MN.

Farmers are not running charities and so need to increase yields to pay for increased costs of
production (due to new seed traits, supply chain issues limiting supplies, inflation, changes in
existing or new weeds, pathogens and/or insects, increased land rental costs, etc.) with enough
profit left over to pay for family living expenses. Each of the soybean production challenges and
the management techniques being studied through the research projects listed here has a tremendous
potential to positively impact
a farmer’s bottom line.