The North Central Soybean Research Program (NCSRP) approved more than $3.2 million in funding for continued research in fiscal year 2026 to support eight university-based projects. Iowa State researchers are involved in seven of those projects, as listed below.

Thomas Baum, plant pathology, entomology and microbiology, will serve as the principal investigator (PI) and Steve Whitham, plant pathology, entomology and microbiology, will serve as a co-PI, on a project titled “Engineering SCN Resistant Soybean using Genome Editing.”

Madan Bhattacharyya, agronomy, will serve as a co-PI on a project led by Jianxin Ma, Purdue University, titled “SoyRenSeqII: Validating and Deploying New Sources of Disease Resistances into Elite Soybean Lines Across the North Central Region.”

Wesley Everman, agronomy, will serve as a co-PI on a project led by Amit Jhala, University of Nebraska, titled “Exploring New Technologies for Integrated Management of Herbicide-Resistant Weeds in Soybean in North Central Region: Research and Extension.”

Erin Hodgson, plant pathology, entomology and microbiology, will serve as a co-PI on a project led by Justin McMechan, University of Nebraska, titled “Management Tactics and Tools for Insect Pests in the North Central Region.”

Daren Mueller, plant pathology, entomology and microbiology, will serve as a co-PI on a project led by Richard Webster, North Dakota State University, titled “Advancing Soybean Health: Field Trials to Decision Support Tools to Maximize Disease Management.”

Asheesh “Danny” Singh, agronomy will serve as a co-PI on a project led by Aaron Lorenz, University of Minnesota, titled “The SOYGEN Collaborative: Genomics-Assisted Breeding for Environmentally Resilient Soybeans.”

Greg Tylka, plant pathology, entomology and microbiology, will serve as a co-PI on a project led by Dylan Mangel, University of Nebraska, titled “The SCN Coalition: Elevating Research Developments and Management Tools to Benefit Farmers.”

More information about these projects can be found on the National Soybean Checkoff Research Database, which also provides information about project researchers, objectives, progress reports and final results including explanations of how farmers will benefit from the work.