The Second SCN Coalition
The SCN coalition is a partnership between university, checkoff, and private scientists tasked with spreading the word about reliable management strategies of soybean cyst nematode to soybean farmers across North America. The first coalition banded in the 1990s to address the widespread presence of SCN that often went unnoticed, not because it wasn’t there, but because plant symptoms are not always present when SCN causes yield loss. The coalition created flyers, advertisements, and videos to communicate the best management strategies of SCN, including host resistance and crop rotation.
Now, SCN is more widely recognized as the number one cause of yield losses in soybean fields in the United States. However, according to a poll in 2015, 69% of farmers surveyed still did not think SCN was a problem in their fields. This enforced the need for a second evaluation of SCN awareness and management.
The second SCN coalition formed in late 2016 when a similar group of scientists from the North Central Region (as well as Kentucky, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Virginia and Ontario) met and concurred that current management strategies are not providing adequate SCN control. This is due to the emerging populations of SCN that are adapting to the resistance from PI 88788, which is used in ~95% of SCN resistant varieties of soybean.
In order to implement the best management strategy in individual fields, it is important to know your numbers. This is why the second SCN coalition is sending out a call for soil samples across the North Central Region beginning in late spring 2018. To find out how to submit a sample in Ohio, visit the Submit a Sample page on this website.
For more information on the SCN Coalition, visit the website at www.thescncoalition.com/