The University of Minnesota has an exceptional array of researchers working on a variety of aspects related to soybean improvement for Minnesota growers. While university departments are an efficient way to organize curricula and conduct business, they also can tend to inhibit collaboration between researchers from different yet complimentary disciplines. The formation of an academic center is one way to help form bridges between departments, bring researchers together, attract new researchers, and enhance communication and outreach around a single problem. To this end, we soybean researchers at the University of Minnesota have created the Soybean Research Center to bring together UMN researchers working on a broad array of aspects related to soybean improvement and utilization. The Center now consists of 25 faculty members that work on soybean research at least part time on campus from eight different academic departments. We feel the Center has been highly successful in helping to bring together soybean researchers across campus, including students, and raising our profile on a national level. During the next year, we want to continue these activities, in addition to establishing a mode of better promoting research activities to the public, recruit new researchers to the Center, and solicit funds from private organizations.

Objective 1. Continue developing the University of Minnesota Soybean Center for all (present and future) UMN soybean researchers to join and participate in.

Goal 1. Elevate UMN soybean research through providing the opportunity for creation of synergy among all soybean researchers from different disciplines.
Goal 2. Enhance communication and coordination of UMN soybean research activities through a better and more sustained and coordinated presence on the web, social media, and press releases.
Goal 3. Attract new researchers to soybean from a broad array of departments that do not traditionally work on agricultural commodities such as soybean.

A functioning University of Minnesota Soybean Research Center that will enable better communication between soybean researchers and producers, ultimately enhancing the quality of soybean research conducted in Minnesota.

Updated December 6, 2024:
Progress report Q1
May 1 – July 31
Prepared and sent out spring SRC newsletter compiling activities of soybean researchers during spring semester.
Managed and updated website to keep it current.
Curated listserv to ensure we are effectively communicating with our internal researchers and outside stakeholders.
Hosted monthly faculty lunches to connect researchers
Initiated planning of outstate field trip, making connections to potential field trip tour stops (Puris, Keith Schrader farm, CHS Ag Services).

Updated December 6, 2024:
Progress report Q2
Aug 1 – Sept 30

--Managed and updated website to keep it current.

--Social media postings, opened new Bluesky account as this is where more researchers are active on social media.

--Collected information from all soybean researchers on campus to create two large posters showing research activities across state of Minnesota. This was effectively displayed at the MSRPC research retreat in July to communicate how UMN researchers are working across greater MN. It can be view here on our website: https://soybeanresearchcenter.umn.edu/ (Scroll half way down page).

--A main activity this past quarter was a outstate tour of some key soybean production infrastructure sites. We brought >20 staff, faculty, and students out to visit an operating soybean farm, a specialty soybean contractor (Puris), and a input supplier (CHS Ag Services). This opportunity allowed our students and staff to network with professionals in the soybean industry and learn about challenges facing soybean production firsthand from farmers and people involved in various stages of the soybean production pipeline. Pictures and more about our trip can be found at our social media posts: https://x.com/SoybeanUMN/status/1828098273011179789

--We continued to host monthly SRC faculty lunches to ensure connections among soybean researchers on campus continues to be strong.

--We started planning for a December event where we are hosting an external speaker –Shawn Conley, Univ. of Wisconsin – who will give a seminar on soybean management. We will pair this with a poster and networking session. This will be our semester event open to all SRC members and outside stakeholders.

The establishment of the University of Minnesota Soybean Center would create synergy among soybean researchers, attract leveraged funding, and facilitate better communication and coordination of all UMN soybean research. This will ultimately lead to more collaborative projects tackling larger and more complex problems of relevance to Minnesota soybean growers.