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Iowa Soybean Research Center

in collaboration with the Iowa Soybean Association

SCN Coalition Awarded for Awareness Campaign Among Soybean Farmers

SCN PRSA Award
SCN Coalition leaders, Greg Tylka (far left) and Sam Markell (far right), attended the celebration event honoring PRSA’s Silver Anvil Award winners along with Max Wenck and Julianne Johnston from MorganMyers.

The SCN Coalition’s public relations campaign to move more soybean farmers to actively manage the soybean cyst nematode (SCN), “Take the Test Beat the Pest,” was the recipient of the Public Relations Society of America’s (PRSA) Silver Anvil Award in the “Issues Management” category. For more than 75 years, the Silver Anvil has been considered an icon of the communications profession. The award ceremony, held in New York City on May 19, 2022, recognized and honored the best communications and public relations campaigns from around the country.

Greg Tylka, plant pathology, entomology and microbiology and director of the Iowa Soybean Research Center, was part of the team that received the prestigious award. Tylka and other leaders of the SCN Coalition, a public-private partnership across 28 states and Ontario, Canada, were honored for efforts to raise farmer awareness of SCN. The coalition's public relations campaign resulted in 18% more farmers actively managing SCN, resulting in a savings estimated at hundreds of millions of dollars annually. The SCN Coalition is funded by the North Central Soybean Research Program, the United Soybean Board and nine corporate partners.