Updated November 3, 2020:
Final Report: Second SCN Coalition: Resistance Management and Awareness Campaign

Date: October 31, 2020

Prepared by: Sam Markell, NDSU

Summary:
The SCN Coalition continues to increase awareness and active management of SCN among growers and the agriculture industry. The approach is to reach the growers by as many means as possible, and utilize the power and levering of the public-private partnership to maximize the impact. Highlights include: news releases generating 19.3 million impressions in ag media consisting of 14.75% of the share of SCN discussion, 369 winter meetings, 77 field days, over 800,000 impressions in twitter, SCN sample increases in member states and the production of 23 videos showcasing SCN management as part of the ‘Let’s Talk Tode’ program. In fall 2020, we will measure the Return on Investment (ROI) and the impacts on the soybean growers of the SCN Coalition.

Who is The SCN Coalition:
The SCN Coalition is a public-private partnership of soybean checkoff organizations, agricultural companies and universities. A full list of partners is available at www.thescncoalition.com.

Mission:
The mission of the SCN Coalition is to conduct an SCN Resistance Management and Awareness Campaign to educate growers and industry on the reality of SCN resistance development, to slow the development of highly aggressive SCN populations, and to minimize increasing levels of yield loss.

Structure and Funding:
To accomplish our mission, we strive to increase active management of SCN, and encourage growers to talk to their advisors about the four primary management actions (testing, rotation, resistance, seed treatments) so they can develop a strategy that best fits their farm. We have leveraged funding received from NCSRP heavily to achieve greater outputs and larger impacts. All funding is complementary and not codependent. Funding received from the North Central Soybean Research Program supports primarily the communication and partner relations of The SCN Coalition. Essentially, this is the backbone of The SCN Coalition. Funding received (both direct funding and in-kind funding) from corporate private partners (agricultural companies, agricultural media) supports primarily national SCN Coalition activities. Funding from USB supports primarily local (state or regional) Extension activities. Funding includes both direct and in-direct/in-kind support (such as the media and advertising power of major agro-chemical companies).

Partnership management and recruitment:
Private partner membership of the SCN Coalition includes, BASF, Bayer, Corteva, Growmark, NuFarm (new partner in 2019), Syngenta, Winfield and Valent (partner since January 2020). Initial contact has been made with AgReliant Genetics, Becks Hybrids and CHS but communication has stalled as a result of the COVID19 epidemic and subsequent pollical/social response. Nevertheless, the private partners grew in this cycle and financially support ‘Let’s Talk Todes’.

News releases:
Cumulatively, since the launch in February 2018, The SCN Coalition has been mentioned in 477 online articles resulting in 19.3 million impressions in ag media. Several of these were directly funded by USB, as indicated. We currently have 14.75% of the total share of discussion on SCN.

Twitter:
841,831 impressions, 11,519 engagements and 1,784 link clicks (October 1, 2018 – September 30, 2020.)

Facebook:
The Coalition launched a Facebook page in November 2019, generating: 297,527 impressions, 5,889 engagements and 3,183 link clicks through September 30, 2020.

www.thescncoalition.com:
Total visits (October 1, 2018 – September 30, 2020) were 19,244, with 14,158 total users, 13,067 new users, 46,069 page views, an average session visit of 3 minutes and 17 seconds and 2.58 page views per session. Additionally, a new checkoff-funded research tab was added to TheSCNcoalition.com site in August 2020. The information about SCN research studies is pulled directly from soybeanresearchinfo.com, and links back to both soybeanresearchinfo.com and the National Soybean Checkoff Research Database.

‘Let’s Talk Todes’ Program:
The newest output of The SCN Coalition (formerly called Tode Tour) is designed to let the soybean growers be a voice and proponent of SCN Management. Funding for the program is entirely leveraged and fully funded by private corporate partners and the United Soybean Board. While the program was designed to be an ‘in person’ event, the COVID19 situation presented us with the opportunity to reach more growers as the world become virtual. To date, we have 23 new ‘Let’s Talk Todes’ videos at https://www.thescncoalition.com/lets-talk-todes, which will be used heavily throughout the winter by public, private and checkoff partners.

Local Extension Activities:
Funding to support local Extension activities was secured from the United Soybean Board, and has resulted in many activities, including but not limited to; field days, winter meetings, SCN sampling programs, media interviews, train the trainer events, local video productions, trade show programming and others. Notably, the United Soybean Board in FY2021 has funded an expansion of local Extension activities.

Award Winning:
The SCN Coalition was awarded the Best of Show NAMA Award in Public Relations in 2020. NAMA is the largest U.S. association for marketing and agribusiness, and the Best of NAMA Awards honor the nation’s best work in agricultural communications.

Return on Investment and Impact on growers:
The United Soybean Board has fully funded market research on the impact of The SCN Coalition, which will be conducted in Fall 2020. Data will be used to compare grower knowledge and practices to data collected in Fall 2015 (fully funded by private partners). Notably, this direct comparison among 17 states and sample size of approximately 1,000 growers (1,096 in 2015 and similar number expected in 2020) will allow us to determine the change of knowledge, change of practices, and return on investment of The SCN Coalition to date.

Acknowledgements:
The SCN Coalition is a true public-private partnership that could not have been established had it not been for the financial support and foresight of the NCSRP. Their heavily leveraged investment has resulted in outputs far greater than any one partner could have produced. We thank the NCSRP and the QSSB’s that support the NCSRP.

View uploaded report 2

View uploaded report 3

Final Report: Second SCN Coalition: Resistance Management and Awareness Campaign

Date: October 31, 2020

Prepared by: Sam Markell, NDSU

Summary:
The SCN Coalition continues to increase awareness and active management of SCN among growers and the agriculture industry. The approach is to reach the growers by as many means as possible, and utilize the power and levering of the public-private partnership to maximize the impact. Highlights include: news releases generating 19.3 million impressions in ag media consisting of 14.75% of the share of SCN discussion, 369 winter meetings, 77 field days, over 800,000 impressions in twitter, SCN sample increases in member states and the production of 23 videos showcasing SCN management as part of the ‘Let’s Talk Tode’ program. Recently, The SCN Coalition was honored with the Best of Show NAMA Award in Public Relations 2020. In fall 2020, we will measure the Return on Investment (ROI) and the impacts on the soybean growers of the SCN Coalition.

Who is The SCN Coalition:
The SCN Coalition is a public-private partnership of soybean checkoff organizations, agricultural companies and universities. A full list of partners is available at www.thescncoalition.com.

Mission:
The mission of the SCN Coalition is to conduct an SCN Resistance Management and Awareness Campaign to educate growers and industry on the reality of SCN resistance development, to slow the development of highly aggressive SCN populations, and to minimize increasing levels of yield loss.

Structure and Funding:
To accomplish our mission, we strive to increase active management of SCN, and encourage growers to talk to their advisors about the four primary management actions (testing, rotation, resistance, seed treatments) so they can develop a strategy that best fits their farm. We have leveraged funding received from NCSRP heavily to achieve greater outputs and larger impacts. All funding is complementary and not codependent. Funding received from the North Central Soybean Research Program supports primarily the communication and partner relations of The SCN Coalition. Essentially, this is the backbone of The SCN Coalition. Funding received (both direct funding and in-kind funding) from corporate private partners (agricultural companies, agricultural media) supports primarily national SCN Coalition activities. Funding from USB supports primarily local (state or regional) Extension activities. Funding includes both direct and in-direct/in-kind support (such as the media and advertising power of major agro-chemical companies).

Partnership management and recruitment:
Private partner membership of the SCN Coalition includes, BASF, Bayer, Corteva, Growmark, NuFarm (new partner in 2019), Syngenta, Winfield and Valent (partner since January 2020). Initial contact has been made with AgReliant Genetics, Becks Hybrids and CHS but communication has stalled as a result of the COVID19 epidemic and subsequent pollical/social response. Nevertheless, the private partners grew in this cycle and financially support ‘Let’s Talk Todes’.

News releases:
Cumulatively, since the launch in February 2018, The SCN Coalition has been mentioned in 477 online articles resulting in 19.3 million impressions in ag media. Several of these were directly funded by USB, as indicated. We currently have 14.75% of the total share of discussion on SCN.

Twitter:
841,831 impressions, 11,519 engagements and 1,784 link clicks (October 1, 2018 – September 30, 2020.)

Facebook:
The Coalition launched a Facebook page in November 2019, generating: 297,527 impressions, 5,889 engagements and 3,183 link clicks through September 30, 2020.

www.thescncoalition.com:
Total visits (October 1, 2018 – September 30, 2020) were 19,244, with 14,158 total users, 13,067 new users, 46,069 page views, an average session visit of 3 minutes and 17 seconds and 2.58 page views per session. Additionally, a new checkoff-funded research tab was added to TheSCNcoalition.com site in August 2020. The information about SCN research studies is pulled directly from soybeanresearchinfo.com, and links back to both soybeanresearchinfo.com and the National Soybean Checkoff Research Database.

‘Let’s Talk Todes’ Program:
The newest output of The SCN Coalition (formerly called Tode Tour) is designed to let the soybean growers be a voice and proponent of SCN Management. Funding for the program is entirely leveraged and fully funded by private corporate partners and the United Soybean Board. While the program was designed to be an ‘in person’ event, the COVID19 situation presented us with the opportunity to reach more growers as the world become virtual. To date, we have 23 new ‘Let’s Talk Todes’ videos at https://www.thescncoalition.com/lets-talk-todes, which will be used heavily throughout the winter by public, private and checkoff partners.

Local Extension Activities:
Funding to support local Extension activities was secured from the United Soybean Board, and has resulted in many activities, including but not limited to; field days, winter meetings, SCN sampling programs, media interviews, train the trainer events, local video productions, trade show programming and others. Notably, the United Soybean Board in FY2021 has funded an expansion of local Extension activities.

Award Winning:
The SCN Coalition was awarded the Best of Show NAMA Award in Public Relations in 2020. NAMA is the largest U.S. association for marketing and agribusiness, and the Best of NAMA Awards honor the nation’s best work in agricultural communications.

Return on Investment and Impact on growers:
The United Soybean Board has fully funded market research on the impact of The SCN Coalition, which will be conducted in Fall 2020. Data will be used to compare grower knowledge and practices to data collected in Fall 2015 (fully funded by private partners). Notably, this direct comparison among 17 states and sample size of approximately 1,000 growers (1,096 in 2015 and similar number expected in 2020) will allow us to determine the change of knowledge, change of practices, and return on investment of The SCN Coalition to date.

Acknowledgements:
The SCN Coalition is a true public-private partnership that could not have been established had it not been for the financial support and foresight of the NCSRP. Their heavily leveraged investment has resulted in outputs far greater than any one partner could have produced. We thank the NCSRP and the QSSB’s that support the NCSRP.