Producing high yielding soybeans in NW MN can be a challenge. This is the second year of a trial initiated by a Norman County farmer interested in testing an iron chelate product and an SCN seed treatment on his farm to manage IDC and SCN, respectively, diseases that have been causing him increased management challenges and decreased yield potential in recent years.

Objective 1: Conduct an on-farm strip trial testing an in-furrow iron chelate product and a soybean seed treatment labeled for SCN management. With our assistance, our cooperating farmer will prepare the seed bed, add soil fertility including in-furrow iron, plant and harvest strip plots using his full-sized farm equipment.

Objective 2: Hold an in-season, on-farm field day focusing on the results of the SCN & IDC study conducted at the Corey Hanson Farm in 2024 and general soybean disease and pest management topics as appropriate in 2025 (adapted to next growing season’s disease and pest pressure). In addition to providing a check-off-sponsored opportunity for farmer neighbors in Norman County, MN to visit with one another and ‘compare notes’, this field day will be an important in-season educational opportunity focused on soybean agronomy and pest management topics applicable to attendees.

In the short term, MSRPC council members and NW MN farmers and crop advisors would have access to research summaries for research projects investigating how best to manage many of the soybean yield-limiting factors present in NW MN. This access would come in multiple forms, including:
• A summer field day focused on IDC, SCN, soybean agronomy, pest and disease management
• Online research summaries (UMN Extension and MN Wheat websites)
• Print research summaries (“Minnesota Wheat Research Review: On-farm cropping trials northwest and west central” booklet) distributed at winter meetings in NW MN.
• Winter meeting presentations, for example:
o MN Wheat On-farm Research Summit,
o Norman County Ag Day,
o NW MN Small Grains Update meetings
o West Polk SWCD Soil Health Club meetings,
o Private Pesticide Applicator Training workshops in NW MN.

Please also see the list of short-term deliverables above.

Longer-term, MN soybean producers would benefit from research-based management recommendations that could help them to better manage both SCN and IDC in NW MN.

Farmers are not running charities and so need to increase yields to pay for increased costs of production (biotech seed traits, inflation, changes in existing or new weeds, pathogens and/or insects, increased land rental costs, etc.) with enough profit left over to pay for family living expenses. This on-farm trial resulted from an inquiry from Mr. Hanson who had both an interest in managing IDC and SCN and an interest in testing practical solutions on his own farm. Consequently, this trial would not be replicated throughout the state or even region. Regardless, this project has the potential to positively impact a farmer’s bottom line.