Next time you receive a shipment of seed, you probably won’t find the soy checkoff logo on any of the bags. But that doesn’t mean the checkoff isn’t helping bring new, beneficial technology to your farm. The checkoff plays a major part in variety development by funding basic soybean research that private companies often turn into new products you can use on your farm.
Here are three examples of checkoff-funded soybean research projects that could advance to seed-company labs:
Advantages in Diversity. Henry Nguyen, at the University of Missouri, seeks to use the genetic diversity in existing soybean germplasm to set the groundwork for future genomic improvements.
Aided by Agrobacterium. Many biotechnology-enhanced varieties were developed with the help of Agrobacterium, an organism naturally present in most soils. A project led by Ohio State’s John Finer could speed up that process.
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