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In August, farmers, researchers, and state checkoff staff members gathered in Wooster at the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center to see the checkoff-funded research being conducted by researchers at The Ohio State University (OSU), several of which are funded by the North Central Soybean Research Program (NCSRP).

NCSRP was established in 1992 by state checkoff organizations in 12 North Central states, including Ohio, as a way to leverage checkoff dollars across state lines and prevent duplicate research. Led by farmers, the organization invests soybean checkoff funds in university research and Extension programs to better understand and manage plant stressors that reduce soybean yield and farmer profitability.

“At NCSRP, we’re doing a tremendous amount of work with universities, which allows researchers to talk to each other and share ideas,” explained Keith Kemp, a soybean farmer from Preble County who serves on the NCSRP and Ohio Soybean Council (OSC) boards. “It’s really helping the American farmer because we’re taking this money and working together much better than separate projects. We can manage a project better when it’s a bigger, more collaborative project.”

Farmer leaders were welcomed to Ohio by Kelley Tilmon, associate professor of entomology and director of OSU’s Center for Soybean Research; avid Benfield, associate vice president of agricultural administration at OSU; and Gary Pierzynski, associate dean for research and graduate education at OSU. All three expressed their gratitude for checkoff funding for research and stressed the importance of university research to support soybean farmers.

The morning focused more on applied research (using the knowledge to create practical solutions to problems) by visiting research plots in the surrounding area. This research included pest management with Kelley Tilmon and Andy Michel, how pollinators affect yields with Reed Johnson, how cover crops affect continuous and double crop soybeans with Keeley Overmyer and Laura Lindsey, disease resistance with Anne Dorrance, and weed resistance with Mark Loux.

The afternoon consisted of presentations surrounding basic research (asking why, what, and how to expand knowledge). Leah McHale spoke about her work breeding new soybean varieties, including several new specialty varieties. Elizabeth Hawkins presented OSU’s research around new precision ag technologies. Feng Qu spoke about using Virus-Induced Gene Silencing (VIGS) to develop better disease resistance. Finally, John Finer addressed the group to discuss his research on improving the efficiency of using genome editing to create new varieties of soybeans. Interested in learning more about checkoff-funded research in Ohio? Visit Field Leader.

“We really believe it’s important to show farmers and researchers from other states how Ohio is using its checkoff dollars to help farmers succeed in the field,” said OSC Research Committee Chair and Henry County farmer Todd Hesterman. “We’re very proud of the research that we’ve funded and the difference it will make on farms across Ohio.”

The trip concluded with the NCSRP summer meeting, where farmer board members from all 12 North Central states voted on funding for upcoming projects. To learn more about NCSRP or the research being funded by your checkoff investment, visit ncsrp.com or soybeanresearchinfo.com.