In June, Joe McClure joined the Iowa Soybean Association as a co-director for the Research Center for Farming Innovation (RCFI), where he will lead RCFI’s on-farm research. He joins Roger Wolf who will remain the lead on conservation and cropping systems implementation. McClure will also be involved in ISRC activities.

Prior to joining ISA, McClure was a Regional Site Lead at Bayer-Monsanto, where he enjoyed a 20-year career in field research, inventory, logistics, and seed production.

McClure’s foundation in agriculture came from growing up on a small pig and grain farm near Center Point, IA. From an early age, he says he’s always liked problem solving, which led him to pursue a degree in computer science from Mount Mercy College, but ultimately he felt drawn to biology and the outdoors and found that those same problem-solving skills worked well in agronomy. So, he returned to school for an MS in crop production and physiology at Iowa State University. While at Iowa State, he worked on iron deficiency chlorosis in soybeans.

At Bayer-Monsanto, his experience with soybeans was with small plot research during the first four years of his career, focusing on herbicide and quality traits. His last four years at Bayer focused on soy manufacturing and he led a team to improve the reliability of seed production by teaching and relying on agronomic principles. McClure looks forward to continuing the relationships he has already made at ISA, ISU and with farmers and is focused on delivering the necessary research results for the industry.

“The collaboration between the Iowa Soybean Association and the Iowa Soybean Research Center has been critical to me as I navigate my new role. It is these types of organizations that see the value in private-public partnerships and that help to foster researchers and projects that are important to Iowa farmers. These relationships have enabled me to jump right in, develop a network quickly and get to work on necessary research,” said McClure.

According to McClure, ISA is focusing on understanding how conservation efforts and sustainable practices can be profitable on the farm. “We have a lot of research focused on enhancing soy and corn yields and improving resiliency during stress. We are also in the process of expanding the network of farmers we are working with to ensure that we have the best representation of Iowa that we can,” said McClure. One project he plans to help initiate this fall is a soybean cyst nematode survey, which will help in educating farmers on management techniques, while providing valuable information on 2022 SCN populations to Greg Tylka, Iowa State nematologist, SCN Coalition co-founder and ISRC director. “Ultimately, we want to increase yields and profitability in a sustainable manner and research will help us to achieve that goal,” said McClure.