Science for Success brings together ~25 Soybean Extension Specialists from 23 land-grant institutions to collaboratively deliver research-based best management practices (BMPs) into the hands of US soybean farmers. In the past year, Science for Success has continued collaborative research trials on biological seed treatments, soil health parameters, and desiccation timing, while adding trials on harvest timing, nitrogen credits from soybeans, and the impacts of cover cropping. Collectively, Science for Success had over 75 research sites in 22 states. We have begun developing our own website and launched our own YouTube channel and both of these efforts will help us streamline information delivery for our stakeholders. In 2024 we released 5 new factsheets that are housed with our existing materials on the Soybean Research & Information Network website. These new factsheets include Planting Soybeans Early, Cover Cropping Before Soybean, Soybean Inoculation and Nitrogen Fixation, Interpreting Agronomic Data, and Understanding Green Stem in Soybean. In conjunction with these new factsheets, we released 4 educational videos on High Speed Planting for Soybeans, Early Soybean Planting, Soybean Nodulation and Inoculation, and Understanding the Effects of Sulfur and Nitrogen Applications on Soybean Yield and Profitability. In March of 2024, Science for Success hosted a three part national webinar series titled “Savvy Full-Season Soybean Management”. The recordings of the webinars can be found on YouTube and covered Pre-Season Maturity Group, Planting Date, and Biological Seed Treatment Choices in Soybean, In-Season Fertilizer and Fungicide Applications in Soybean, and Late-Season Desiccation Decisions in Soybean. The webinar series had over 400 registrants and the recordings have received over 450 views on YouTube. Continuing Education Credits for Certified Crop Advisers were offered for all webinars. Based on evaluation surveys for the series (n=36), 85% of respondents stated that they would use or share information learned in the webinars. On average, respondents placed an average value of the information learned at $10-50 per acre and respondents reported a collective 400,000 acres farmed or managed. Based on the documented survey responses alone, the value of this education to the 36 respondents is worth a minimum of $4,000,000 (12% of live attendees). Science for Success hosted our annual graduate student tour in Maryland and Pennsylvania this summer for 26 attendees. A summary video of the tour can be found on our YouTube channel. Twelve of our team members attended the Commodity Classic show in Houston and sixteen team members attended our annual content development meeting in Charleston. At the content development meeting team members participated in a workshop on improving stakeholder presentations, resulting in the filming of 15 educational videos that will be released in the coming year alongside factsheets. Science for Success continues to further extend our outreach through our X (Twitter) account, with our follower count increasing 21% since June of 2024 alone. Operationally, in 2024 Science for Success added two full time staff members and two interns. We also created a strategic plan that directs the work of our research, outreach, mentorship, and graduate student committees.

The collaboration of Science for Success team members to produce high quality collaborative research trials and outreach mechanisms helps provide US soybean farmers with more robust and comprehensive guidance on crop production. This is in part due to the national reach of team members, covering over 90% of US soybean acres, but also due to the collaborative nature of the team and their willingness to work together. By working across a wider geographical area, team members can increase the amount of research sites, increasing the power of trial results. The team structure also facilitates the generation of more content than any one Extension Specialist would be able to produce on their own. By producing materials as a team, we also increase the reach of those materials by distributing them within each team member's network of stakeholders and colleagues. More specifically, this project has resulted in the creation of 5 nationally impactful factsheets, 4 short videos that accompany those factsheets, 3 national webinars, and an increased social media presence that delivers updates from the field and research-based best management practices directly to stakeholders.