Where do soybean varieties and seed come from? Here in North Dakota we have Carrie Miranda, NDSU Soybean Breeder.
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Where do soybean varieties and seed come from? Here in North Dakota we have Carrie Miranda, NDSU Soybean Breeder.
What is In the Pod: Soybean Updates?
The NDSU Extension weekly podcast In the Pod: Soybean Updates delivers timely insights and expert advice on soybean production.
Bruce Sundeen:
You're listening to In The Pod, Soybean Updates, a weekly trek into the latest soybean information from NDSU Extension. Where do soybean varieties and seed come from? Some soybeans are created specifically for the North Dakota climate and its soil types. Here in North Dakota, we have Carrie Miranda, NDSU soybean breeder. Carrie, could you introduce yourself and tell us what you do?
Carrie Miranda:
Yeah. Absolutely. And thank you for having me on today as well. My name is Carrie Miranda. I am an assistant professor at NDSU. My research focuses on plant breeding and genetics, and specifically, I am the public soybean breeder for North Dakota.
Bruce Sundeen:
What exactly does a soybean breeder do?
Carrie Miranda:
A soybean breeder is essentially an applied geneticist, and we take knowledge that other researchers have gained about soybean and then add them to, ideally, a high yielding soybean variety that will end up as an end product for farmers to grow in their fields. That is specifically what I was hired for is to listen to the needs of North Dakota farmers and then create improved soybean varieties that they can grow. You can actually buy NDSU brand soybean at your local seed dealer.
Bruce Sundeen:
Carrie, what kind of projects do you work on that improve soybean production for North Dakota farmers?
Carrie Miranda:
As a breeder, like I said, I'm here to work for North Dakota farmers. And so I get the ideas for my projects directly from farmers either through the North Dakota Soybean Council, who I work with very closely, through field days as well, talking to farmers and hearing what their needs are. I am also funded through the North Dakota Soybean Council, so my work is checkoff work. I take that very seriously. Some of the needs that I have been asked to work on, of course, is yield. Right? North Dakota could definitely do a little bit better when it comes to soybean yields compared to other Midwestern states. And then more specifically for the Red River Valley, Iron Deficiency Chlorosis is a pretty chronic problem. I'm working on a couple projects, working with the soil scientists to understand the correlation between soybean genetics, IDC tolerances in soybean, and then different soil chemistries as a way to help mitigate some of those pretty detrimental effects of IDC. Also, genetics of IDC tolerance as a whole, hopefully, to optimize something that would be specific for North Dakota because we have found that IDC is not the same state by state, which means the tolerances that we need might not be the similar state by state. Additionally, I've been asked by the soybean council to work on drought in the West. Soil conditions are different as well. And so I'm working on developing soybean varieties that can tolerate less water during their growing cycle and still keep somewhat high yields. And then one of my pet projects that is near and dear to my heart is really learning how to optimize season length of soybean. Right? We know that we have risks of late frost, early frost, and so we have a reduced season length. And, historically, if you reduce your season length, you have a negative effect on yields. However, I think it should be possible to control my season length, but yet still maintain high yields, and that's the projects I'm most interested in.
Bruce Sundeen:
Carrie, any final thoughts or any type of news?
Carrie Miranda:
Yeah. Definitely. So, you know, I can work on creating fantastic soybean varieties all that I want, but let's be real. The market really needs herbicide resistance. Right?
Carrie Miranda:
I could have a super high yielding variety, but if it's conventional, there's not much of a place for it. I am working avidly with companies like Corteva and BASF to acquire licenses to different herbicide traits, and one that we recently have gotten is the Liberty trait. Liberty is really useful for the kochia problem that we have in the state. And so we look forward to that coming out in the next couple years because it does take several years of testing and breeding before we have something that we can bring to market. But, of course, we're always working on acquiring the newest and greatest herbicide traits too. And so I want to make it well known that I am avidly working on the products that North Dakota farmers need to optimize their soybean production.
Bruce Sundeen:
Thanks, Carrie. Our guest has been Carrie Miranda, NDSU soybean breeder. You're listening to In the Pod, Soybean Updates, a weekly trek into the latest soybean information from NDSU Extension.