More than 500 farmers, agronomists and researchers attended the 35^th ISU Extension and Outreach Integrated Crop Management Conference held December 11 and 12 at the Meadows Event Center in Altoona, IA. The ISRC was a supporting sponsor of the conference.

Several ISRC faculty affiliates, including Sotirios Archontoulis, Wesley Everman, Mark Licht and Richard Roth, agronomy; Erin Hodgson, Daren Mueller, Matt O’Neal, Alison Robertson and Greg Tylka, plant pathology, entomology and microbiology; Rabail Chandio and Chad Hart, economics; and Matt Helmers, agricultural and biosystems engineering, presented their latest research information and crop management recommendations.

Specific to soybean, Mark Licht and Joe McClure (Iowa Soybean Association) led a panel discussion on successful soybean and corn production while using conservation practices with Iowa farmers Matt Bormann and AJ Blair and E4 Crop Intelligence agronomist Ryan Reimers. Mueller spoke on soybean disease challenges and fungicide strategies. Tylka provided an update on soybean cyst nematode (SCN) management strategies with an emphasis on resistance management. Hodgson provided information on soybean aphid insecticide resistance. Everman spoke on herbicide-resistant weed challenges. Licht also spoke in a session on soybean seeding rates and row spacing.

Guest speakers presenting on soybean-related issues included Horacio Lopez-Nicora from The Ohio State University who provided an overview of present and future challenges of SCN, Seth Naeve from the University of Minnesota who attempted to help answer the age-old question, “How early should you plant soybeans?” and Anibal Cerrudo, a visiting professor at University of Minnesota from the Argentinian National Institute for Agriculture, who offered insight on optimizing soybean management.