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| Harold Kauffman (right) and Pradeep Khanna of the NSRL examine a globe in preparation for the Sixth World Soybean Research Conference scheduled for Chicago in 1999. The event will bring together soybean scientists from around the world to share recent research results and chart future research and development activities. |
Two conferences, the Sixth World Soybean Research Conference and the Fourth Midwest Soybean Conference, will serve as core components of the Forum. Nearly a week of events will include a series of research presentations and meetings of regional and international soybean organizations, as well as special sessions centered on three themes--meeting the demands of world customers and markets, creating tomorrow’s world-class supply system, and responding to society’s changing needs.
"This venue will provide soybean producers with increased global visibility and a better understanding of the worldwide potential for soybeans," Kauffman said. "By gathering the soybean industry together to discuss the future amongst ourselves, we will be much better poised to respond to the challenges and opportunities of the 21st Century."
A major focus for the NSRL and the U of I will be the Sixth World Soybean Research Conference. This event will provide a range of forums for scientists from around the world to share recent research results and chart future research and development activities.
"The soybean industry has changed dramatically since the U of I hosted the first World Soybean Research Conference in 1975," Kauffman says. "Major advances in science and technology are radically altering the way we do research on soybeans. In turn, results from this research is driving rapid changes in every segment of the soybean value chain."
The goal of the conference is to help participants better understand these recent changes and to position the research community for a key role in shaping the soybean industry of the future. Leading scientists from around the world will be invited to present research results, with an emphasis on how biotechnology and information technology will impact major research areas.
"One of the sessions will focus on germplasm, breeding, molecular genetics, and other aspects of biotechnology," Kauffman says. "These presentations are expected to reflect how those disciplines are increasingly linked through global cooperation."
He notes that the conference also will focus on sustainable crop management practices, integrated pest management, and precision farming. Plans also include an exchange of research results on processing technologies and product concepts that can meet an increasingly diverse global demand for soy products. Other sessions will review innovative ways to increase feed conversion of soy products in livestock, poultry, and fish.
"We also want to look closely at the role that soy can play in improving the nutritional value of food," Kauffman says. "Another major session will focus on soybean pricing and global trade. This will provide opportunities for participants from both importing and exporting countries to better understand the factors that contribute to more efficient markets and mutually beneficial trade."
He emphasizes that soybean research and development has become a global activity that requires scientists to be more and more aware of where research is taking place and what strategic alliances are being formed to carry out that research. These changes further require scientists to better understand the whole value chain of the industry and the ways that they can work effectively with different segments of the industry.
"New technologies today impact all aspects of research and development across the industry value chain," Kauffman says. "If scientists are going to be productive they must be knowledgeable about the state-of-the-art technology and the opportunities for its use on a global basis. Each person attending this conference, hopefully, will leave with a better understanding of the global economy and its impact on the soybean industry."
Additional details on the Sixth World Soybean Research Conference and Global Soybean Forum ‘99 are available from WSRC VI, National Soybean Research Laboratory, 1101 W. Peabody Drive, Urbana, Il 61801 or on the internet at http://www.gsf99.uiuc.edu/wsrc.html...
New Market Decision-Making Tool Available for Soybean Producers
University of Illinois researchers recently unveiled a new tool for determining the value of raw soybeans on the basis of protein and oil content. The Expected Processing Value (EPV) calculator, also called the soybean crush calculator, allows users to determine the processed value from market prices for soybean meal, crude soybean oil, and mill run when soybean meal and extracted oil yields from a given soybean lot are known.
The tool is a new feature of StratSoy, an Internet-based strategic information and communication system funded by the United Soybean Board. The StratSoy information system (http://www.ag.uiuc.edu/~stratsoy/new/welcome.html) was developed at the U of I in cooperation with Texas A&M University.
"The EPV is an example of value-added information and decision-support tools that can help improve soybean marketing channels and increase returns for soybean producers," says Sarahelen Thompson, StratSoy project director and associate professor in the Department of Agricultural and Consumer Economics. "The StratSoy project is committed to providing decision-support tools to improve market decision making and support to grain producers."
One key reason for developing the EPV is that, as protein and oil become more accepted as marketing criteria, many traders, growers, and plant breeders will need a basis for comparing individual lots of soybeans.
"Buyers need to know the value of what they are buying and what they can afford to pay," says Pradeep Khanna of the StratSoy project team. "Growers must have the ability to rank varieties and evaluate cultural practices based on anticipated value to the user. Soybean breeders need a meaningful criterion to use in long-term development programs. The EPV calculator serves as a starting point for these determinations."
The calculator is now set up for manual input of prices, meal and oil content of soybeans. Khanna notes that future innovations in the calculator will allow users to pull in futures prices for oil and meal from the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT). Eventually, the EPV will be linked to a database of information on oil and meal content of different soybean varieties. Users will then choose soybean varieties from the database and compare revenues across different varieties.
Several processing parameters must be known to predict the expected processing value. Khanna explains that values for variables, although probably dependent on soybean composition, are assumed constant by the EPV calculator due to a lack of data.
Soybean meal and oil, both of which are traded on the CBOT are the two main products of soybeans processed with solvent extraction. Published crush margins, which measure the difference between the value of soybean meal and oil, and the purchase price of raw soybeans both assume that one bushel of soybeans yields 48 pounds of protein meal and 11 pounds of extracted oil. The actual yield of crude oil and meal per bushel, however, is determined by the soybean protein and oil content, along with processing conditions and efficiencies.
Behavioral Change In Corn Rootworms Presents New Problem for Soybean Growers
Western corn rootworms have made an amazing adaptation for survival, pitting themselves against scientists and farmers. Most importantly, this startling development has suddenly placed soybean growers at the forefront of the ongoing battle against this major insect pest.
Research underway at the University of Illinois has confirmed that some rootworms have changed their behavior by laying their eggs in soybean fields instead of corn. The conclusion is that crop rotation itself has selected for a rootworm strain that circumvents the corn-soybean crop rotation.
By laying their eggs in soybean fields the female beetles insure the survival of their larvae in the subsequent year because the field will be planted to corn. The threat posed by this change has prompted new research efforts funded by the Illinois Soybean Checkoff Board and the Illinois Council on Food and Agricultural Research (C-FAR).
"Intense selection pressures have produced rootworm beetles that move out of corn to lay at least some of their eggs," says Joseph Spencer, entomologist with the Illinois Natural History Survey and the U of I’s Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences. "Rootworm beetles are laying their eggs in soybean, alfalfa and other locations."
This is a major shift in the behavior of the rootworms that threatens the efficacy of corn-soybean crop rotation. In the past, crop rotation has been extremely effective in controlling corn rootworms, but recently crop rotation has failed in some fields in the Midwest.
The first documented instance of corn rootworn damage to corn planted after soybeans occurred in 1993 in one east-central Illinois county. In 1995, nine counties in east-central Illinois and another 13 counties in northwestern Indiana reported damage. Sampling in 1997 showed that the problem had slowly spread west and rapidly spread north and east.
"We're in contact with entomologists from other states," Spencer says. "They report finding corn rootworm presence in soybean fields in western and northern Indiana, the southern two tiers of counties in Michigan, and the northwest section of Ohio. In some cases, the numbers were very high."
The rapid spread is caused by prevailing summer winds that blow north and east. And the logical conclusion is that the problem will eventually spread to the Atlantic coast.
"Given what we know about prevailing winds and storm patterns, it's only a matter of time before this rootworm adaption ends up as far east as Delaware," says Scott Isard, U of I professor of geography.
Given the amount of first-year corn acreage in Illinois, it would cost farmers $100 million per year to chemically control rootworms if the corn-soybean crop rotation fails to control them. Yet, surveying has shown that this specific rootworm problem does not exist or is minimal west of the Illinois River and in the southern third of Illinois.
"For 1998, however, we have the makings of a big problem in the affected area," says Eli Levine, entomologist with the Illinois Natural History Survey and the U of I’s Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences. "Rootworm populations in 1997 were very high. Winter weather has been very mild, so winter survival of the rootworm eggs will likely be large."
According to Levine, this could be devastating to fields with a known problem in east-central Illinois and western Indiana.
"If farmers experienced rootworm injury to first-year corn following soybeans in 1997 and if they found rootworm beetles in their soybean fields that are to be rotated into corn in 1998, they are probably justified in using a soil insecticide in their first-year corn," he says. "Soil insecticides are not generally recommended outside of this area."
Levine notes that the corn rootworm beetles also have been observed feeding on soybean foliage. This, however, appears to be of much less concern.
"We have also observed them feeding on the flowers, but this has generally not been an economic problem as the plants pollinate themselves before the flowers open," he says. "We did studies in both 1996 and 1997, and there was no significant effect of corn rootworm feeding on the yield of soybeans."
Furthermore, rootworm beetles that feed only on soybeans do not thrive. They cannot produce eggs, they weigh less, and they are much more likely to die than beetles eating corn or a mixed diet of corn and soybeans.
"Eating soybeans is very bad for the rootworm beetle," Spencer says. "On the other hand, the advantage gained by moving out of corn to lay eggs is very great because it means that a female’s eggs survive."
Rootworm larvae still rely completely on corn roots to survive. Repeated attempts by the scientists to rear rootworm larvae on soybean roots have not been successful.
"We still do not know if all females in the local population lay at least some eggs away from corn, or only a portion of the population does this," Spencer says. "We also do not know whether these insects are less attracted to corn, or just more likely to move around in general."
As part of this research effort, entomologists in the U of I’s Department of Crop Sciences have developed a preliminary economic threshold for rootworms in soybeans. The threshold is designed to help growers decide if western corn rootworm beetle populations are high enough in their soybeans to warrant soil insecticide use in first-year corn the following year.
"This apparent failure of crop rotation has altered the management equation for corn rootworms in eastern Illinois and northern Indiana," says Mike Gray, entomologist with the U of I Cooperative Extension Service. "Many producers have responded to the threat of rootworm injury by applying a soil insecticide at planting without the benefit of much scouting input or the use of an economic threshold."
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| Mike Gray, Extension entomologist at the University of Illinois, examines a trap for the presence of corn rootworm beetles in a soybean field. This research has resulted in a preliminary threshold that can help growers decide if rootwork populations are high enough in their soybeans to warrant soil insecticide use the following season in first-year corn. |
Indeed, soil insecticide use on first-year corn, which reached a low of only 13 percent in Illinois during 1995, has escalated tremendously during the past two growing seasons.
But, according to Gray, producers in affected areas, for the first time, will have the option to utilize a preliminary threshold based on the use of Pherocon AM traps in soybean fields.
"In 1996, we placed these yellow-sticky traps on the farms of cooperators in east-central Illinois," Gray says. "Twelve traps were spaced evenly throughout a soybean field, and four traps were used on field margins, one per field edge."
During the 1997 growing season, Gray along with graduate assistant Matt O’Neal and other members of the research team evaluated root injury on a one to six scale in both treated and untreated strips in each grower’s field.
"Corn root injury data were compared against the total number of western corn beetles captured in soybeans during late July and early August of the previous growing season," Gray says. "Results suggest that as few as two or three beetles caught per trap per day can result the next season in an average root injury of 3.0, which indicates some root pruning."
He notes that the results further indicate that capturing seven to eight beetles per trap per day may lead the following year to an average root rating of 4.0, in which one node of the root is destroyed.
As a result, Gray recommends that growers in the affected areas place 12 traps in their soybean fields from the last week of July through the third week of August. A daily count of beetles in the traps should be averaged over the four-week period.
"Anything over seven beetles per trap per day on average would be a fairly good indication of a high infestation in first-year corn the following year," he says.
Gray and his colleagues will spend the 1998 growing season further verifying and refining these preliminary thresholds.
Major Testing Program To Educate Growers on Nematode Management
During 1998, growers in Illinois, along with their counterparts in nine other north-central states, will be invited to participate in a new, three-year soybean cyst nematode (SCN) management program, according to H. Walker Kirby, plant pathologist with the University of Illinois Cooperative Extension Service.
"Data show that SCN robs Illinois producers alone of more than 16 million bushels in an average year," Kirby says. "In a year in which SCN flourishes, that loss may exceed 20 million bushels, with an estimated value of $120 million."
Kirby notes that all soybean growers should become familiar with management of this pest now that it has become firmly established throughout the north-central region. The purpose of this new program is to actively increase producer awareness of SCN and how it can be successfully managed.
This coalition is a unique partnership of state soybean checkoff boards and land grant universities in 10 north-central states, as well as key industry and grower participants. The program originated from funding provided by the North Central Soybean Research Program, an alliance of ten state checkoff boards that finances soybean research projects.
The management program in Illinois is a cooperative effort among many groups and organizations. U of I Extension is cooperating with the Illinois Soil Testing Association, professional farm managers, private consultants, seed companies, and agrichemical companies throughout the state.
The Illinois Soybean Association and the Illinois Soybean Checkoff Board are providing financial assistance for educational resources and support for coordinating the many activities of this project.
"Fortunately, Illinois producers are already among the best informed and most likely to have tested for SCN, according to a survey sponsored by the North Central Soybean Research Program," Kirby says.
The goal of the program is to test as many as four million acres of soybean land during the next three years. More than 30,000 soil samples are expected to be processed during each year of the project.
"All soybean producers in Illinois are eligible for the soil testing, which will be offered through various agencies as part of their crop management programs," Kirby says. "U of I Extension will conduct SCN clinics during the summer months, where producers can have soil tests analyzed for free. Prices for testing by private labs is variable and often depends on what other services are being provided."
He emphasizes that one key message to producers from this program is that SCN can cause yield loss without any visible symptoms.
"We have identified many fields in central and northern Illinois that are infested with SCN at levels above the threshold and have no visible symptoms," Kirby says. "Many of these fields were identified with yield monitors when the yields suddenly dropped by three to five bushels in parts of a field. These areas would not have been detected if yields had been calculated only on a whole-field basis."
Kirby adds that other producers had their SCN problem identified for the first time while attending one of the SCN clinics sponsored around the state by U of I Extension.
"In recent clinics in central and northern Illinois, nearly two-thirds of the samples were positive for SCN above the threshold level," he says. "More than 80 percent of these producers reported that SCN had not previously been identified in their fields."
One professional farm manager who had SCN identified from these clinics expects to recover the costs of sampling 13,000 acres within the first year from increased yields by planting resistant varieties.
"It is important to understand that soil testing is the primary step for managing SCN," Kirby says. "Only a soil test can reveal the real level of damage and that’s the basic reason for the formation of the Illinois SCN Coalition. If present, SCN must be managed each year using crop rotation and resistance. Otherwise, five to ten bushels of yield per acre can easily slip through your hands."
Over the winter, I have had the opportunity as NSRL Director to participate in several strategy sessions with state, regional, and national soybean groups. This participation has underscored for me that effective research decision making has never been more critical. As the ability to create and employ knowledge becomes the cornerstone for economic growth, we must insure that the research and development systems supporting the soybean sector are evolving optimally to exploit the new opportunities and challenges that we face.
In the food and agriculture sector, future performance will be greatly affected by the development of three knowledge bases that do not exist today or are just in their infancy. As illustrated in the figure, these are:
-- a genetic knowledge base to
create agricultural output with specific traits (top
segment of figure);
-- a knowledge base identifying specific needs of customers and consumers (bottom segment);
-- a production knowledge base that optimally links consumer needs and genetic capabilities (middle segment).
Each of these segments has two components: an icon on the left that represents operations in the sector and a file-cabinet icon that represents the key role of knowledge creation as a driver of strategic change. Within each knowledge base, each of the three individual cabinets represent a type of knowledge creation. One pertains to operational efficiency and the need for firms to continually improve their operations. The other two cabinets can be thought of as more traditional research and development efforts: one for creation of new products and the other for development of substantially different and enhanced processes.
The production agriculture knowledge base is particularly of interest because it involves a fundamental change in technological capabilities. Theoretically, this knowledge base should combine the operational efficiency of our current commodity system with effectiveness levels that are significantly more responsive to the needs of consumers, customers, and society.
Most of those involved in agriculture are aware of the precision agriculture technologies that form part of the knowledge base for production agriculture. However, relatively little thought has been given to the broader capabilities needed to create such a knowledge base and to the effects on the market structure if such a capability existed.
The technologies of precision agriculture provide the means to capture unprecedented amounts of data on production agriculture operations. Capturing data, however, does not actually create knowledge. Communications and interpreting that data are complimentary capabilities that will have to be developed. Most importantly, integrating those capabilities within the existing research and development systems that support production agriculture will be necessary to ensure maximum effectiveness.
The development and implementation of these knowledge bases are strategic issues that can fundamentally alter market relationships in the food sector. Indeed, we should expect that these three knowledge bases will be instrumental in determining how economic value is created and distributed in tomorrow’s soybean agriculture.
Steven Sonka
NSRL Director and Soybean Industry Chair in Agricultural Strategy
The NSRL Bulletin is published three times a year by the National Soybean Research Laboratory at the University of Illinois, 170 Environmental and Agricultural Sciences Building, 1101 W. Peabody Drive, Urbana, IL 61801; telephone (217)244-1706; e-mail nsrl@uiuc.edu; FAX (217)244-1707. Steven T. Sonka, director; Robert J. Wynstra, editor; Tina Prow and Lisa Sheppard, contributing editors; David Riecks, photographer; Lynn Hawkinson Smith, graphic designer.
Unless otherwise stated, articles may be reproduced or quoted if credit is given to the NSRL Bulletin. The National Soybean Research Laboratory at the University of Illinois is an affirmative action and equal opportunity institution.
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