March 19, 2010

It seems like every time I turn on my TV, there’s another awards program — the Academy Awards, the Emmy Awards, the CMA Awards, the SAG Awards, the Tony Awards  — and the list goes on and on. This year I decided to start my own awards, the Tode  —  (rhymes with Tony) Awards!

These awards recognize counties for their work in sampling for soybean cyst nematodes (SCN), the most devastating pest to soybean growers in Nebraska and the U.S. Last year SCN cost Nebraska farmers an estimated $25 million and nationally about $1 billion in lost yields.

Farmers can reduce this loss when they know these nematodes are in their fields, but that’s the catch.  Farmers can have yield losses of 20%-30% with no visible symptoms on the plant. The best way to determine if SCN is in a field is to take a soil test.

And now a word from our program sponsor, the Nebraska Soybean Board. They recognized the seriousness of this problem and have funded a project with UNL to encourage farmers to sample their fields for SCN. Their support covers the cost of analyzing soil samples for SCN, a $20 savings.

We just completed the fifth year of this project with some staggering results.

• Since 2005, SCN has been identified in 23 Nebraska counties for the first time. This almost doubles the number of counties where SCN had been confirmed over the previous 19 years.
• SCN has now been identified in 50 counties that produce over 80% of Nebraska’s soybeans.

Without the Nebraska Soybean Board’s support, we would not have been able to reach this many Nebraska farmers. In 2009, 734 samples were submitted and 167 (22.8%) were positive for SCN.

And the winners are . . .

From these results, our panel of judges has identified the following Tode Award recipients.

In the category of Most Samples Submitted:

Winner: Fillmore County (60)
Honorable Mention: Saunders County (52), Antelope County (44), Pierce County (43)

In the category of Most Samples Testing Positive for SCN:

Winner: Antelope County (19)
Honorable Mention: Richardson County (14), Douglas County (12), Pierce County (12)

In the category of Highest Percentage of Samples Positive for SCN (of at least five samples):

Winner: Douglas County (63%)
Honorable Mention: Dodge County (60%), Kearney County (53%), Polk County (46%)

In the category of Sample with Highest Egg Count per 100 ccs of Soil:

Winner: Antelope County (108,000)
Honorable Mention: Platte County (53,200), Polk County (48,560), Pierce County (34,160)

And finally, in the category of Counties with First SCN Detection:

Winners: Phelps County, Thayer County, and  Webster County

Some might argue that the counties in the last category are losers, but they really are winners. Now that farmers in these counties know SCN has been found locally, they can sample for it and, if found, start managing for it. 

Although SCN often goes undetected, it has become well established in Nebraska and is reducing profitability of the state's soybean producers. To learn more about SCN or to pick up bags to submit soil samples from your fields, contact your local UNL Extension office.

John Wilson
Extension Educator
Loren Giesler
Extension Plant Pathologist