The United Soybean Board approved $3.5 million in research funding to support 13 projects involving ISU researchers for fiscal year 2026. Following are the projects that involve ISRC faculty affiliates serving as PI (principal investigator) or co-PI.

Thomas Baum, plant pathology, entomology and microbiology (PPEM), will serve as co-PI on a project titled “Single Cell to Understand the Interactions Between SCN and Soybean, a Step Toward Sustainable Resistance” led by Khalid Meksem, Southern Illinois University.

Madan Bhattacharyya, agronomy, will serve as PI on a project titled "Introgression of Drought and Flood Tolerance Genes into Four Elite Soybean Cultivars Through Backcrossing."

Mike Castellano, agronomy, will serve as PI on a project titled "Reducing Nitrous Oxide Emissions from Soybean Through Early Planting, Cover Cropping, Investigating Residue Removal.”

Leonor Leandro, PPEM, will serve as PI on a project titled "Biology and Management of Soybean Stem Diseases." She will also serve as co-PI on a project titled “Seedling Pathogens in Soybean: Disease Management and Farmer Education” led by Febina Mathew, North Dakota State University.

Daren Mueller, PPEM, will serve as PI on projects titled "Updating Soybean Foliar Disease Portfolio" and “Crop Protection Network and Better Together: Delivering Soybean Research Results to Farmers Through National Partnerships.” He will also serve as co-PI on projects titled “Breeding and Screening Soybean for Resistance to Mature Seed Damage” led by Tessie Wilkerson, Mississippi State University and “Science for Success: Agronomists Collaboratively Delivering Soybean Best Management Practices” led by Rachel Vann, University of Illinois.

Danny Singh, agronomy, will serve as co-PI on projects titled “Discovering and Deploying Genetic Solutions Across Maturity Groups for Durable Resistance to Multiple Nematodes” led by Zenglu Li, University of Georgia and “Yield Limitations of Soybean Varieties Under Drought: Identifying and Overcoming Weaknesses by Team Drought Via Breeding, Genomics, Phenomics and Physiology” led by Caio Vieira, University of Arkansas.

Additionally, two projects focused on soybean in animal diets will be led by David Rosero, animal science. The projects are titled "Impact of Feeding Soyhulls During Gestation and Lactation on the Reproductive Performance and Survivability of Sows” and "Elevating Soybean Meal Inclusion in Nursery Diets Through the Use of Enzymes.”