On September 8 and 9, the ISRC hosted a tour of Iowa State University’s research facilities and research plots for about 45 Iowa Soybean Association farmer board members and staff. The first day began on campus with a tour of research laboratories in the Advanced Teaching and Research Building by Gwyn Beattie, Leonor Leandro, Matt O’Neal and Steve Whitham, plant pathology, entomology and microbiology. The researchers highlighted some of the topics they are studying such as soybean aphids, sudden death syndrome, microbiomes and genetics. Following the tour, Mike Castellano, agronomy, presented on the Iowa Nitrogen Initiative and Marshall McDaniel, agronomy, spoke about soil management and crop sustainability. A reception was held that evening at Reiman Gardens at which attendees were welcomed by Iowa State University President Wendy Wintersteen and Dean of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Dan Robison.

Day two started at the Ag Engineering and Agronomy Research Farm with a tour of the Enviratron led by Lie Tang, agricultural and biosystems engineering, and Steve Whitham, plant pathology, entomology and microbiology and featured a Phenobot demonstration. Outside, in a neighboring soybean field, Arti Singh and Danny Singh, agronomy, and their research teams provided demonstrations and updates on their research focusing on several different areas, including soybean breeding lines, a soybean insect identification phone app, heat and drought stress, advanced sensors, drones and more.

The second half of the morning was spent at the BioCentury Research Farm, which featured a soy asphalt presentation by Eric Cochran, chemical and biological engineering, and a tour of the thermo chemical facility led by Tannon Daugaard of the Bioeconomy Institute.

In the afternoon, the visiting group of farmers listened to presentations by Prashant Jha and Mark Licht, agronomy, and Greg Tylka, plant pathology, entomology and microbiology, at the ISU Field Extension Education Lab, better known as FEEL. The presentations focused on soybean management, weeds such as herbicide-resistant waterhemp and soybean cyst nematode, respectively. The event was a great success in connecting Iowa soybean farmers, ISA staff and ISU researchers/ISRC affiliates, while allowing for an opportunity to provide updates on the soybean research being done at Iowa State and showcasing some of the university’s agricultural research facilities. Check out the ISA’s State of Soy’s video that highlighted the event.