SESSION OVERVIEW

 

Plenary sessions

Opening addresses and keynotes

European soybean session
Chair: Matthias Krön, Donau Soja, Austria

This plenary session highlights the European footprint in the world of soy. The area of soybean in Europe is growing rapidly. However, imports remain highly relevant for resilient and sustainable supply chains in Europe. What are the special dynamics and requirements of the European soybean market? How can these be addressed? What are the relevant policies for the production and consumption of protein-rich crops? And how does all this affect global supply chains? These are just some of the topics we are going to discuss in the European Soybean Session.

Regional soybean reports

Chair: Ricardo Vilela Abdelnoor, Embrapa, Londrina, Paraná, Brazil
Representatives from different soybean growing regions will address latest developments and problems of soybean production and utilization. The session will include speakers from regions or individual countries covering North America, Central and South America, Continental Asia, Africa, Europe, Australia as well as Asian and Oceanian island countries.

Soybean in agricultural systems

Thematic parallel sessions 

BREEDING, GENETICS, GENOMICS, AND BIOTECHNOLOGY

 

Soybean pangenome and genetic diversity
Chair: Henry Nguyen, University of Missouri, Columbia, Missouri, USA
This session will highlight recent advances in soybean pangenomics, global HapMap, and application of new genomic resources for the understanding of domestication and genetic diversity for trait discovery 

Innovations in breeding technology

Chairs: Jegor Miladinovic, Institute of Field and Vegetable Crops, Novi Sad, Serbia

The session deals with the latest advances and innovative approaches in soybean breeding. Emerging and new platforms and tools for acceleration of soybean breeding will be discussed by selected speakers. 

             

Genomics-assisted breeding

Chair: Zenglu Li, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia, USA 

Advances in genomic technologies have greatly impacted plant breeding and are changing the breeding strategies used in soybean breeding. This session will include the topics on uses of genome-wide markers for genomic selection, prediction of superior crossing combinations, and characterizing soybean germplasm in applied breeding programs to improve breeding efficiency and accelerate breeding cycles. 

Soybean genome editing

Chair: Robert Stupar, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, Minnesota, USA

This session will focus on innovations and applications of soybean genome editing. This will include technical advances, gene discovery, and trait development. 

Germplasm collections and evaluation

Chair: Li-Juan Qiu, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing, China
The collection and evaluation of soybean germplasm plays a vital role on enhancing both yield and quality, as well as promoting tolerance to biotic and abiotic stress factors. This session will highlight on the innovative evaluation methods and tools, genetic diversity on omics levels, and exciting prospects of utilization of favorite trait or gene for genetic research and breeding in soybean.

Seed composition

Chairs: Kristin Bilyeu, USDA/ARS and University of Missouri, Columbia, Missouri, USA

Jeong-Dong Lee, Kyungpook National University, Daegu, Republic of Korea
The Seed Composition session will cover research to improve the quality and value of soybean seed oil and meal through changes in fatty acid composition and protein content as well as other composition improvements that may impact the plant-based protein space. 

Breeding for abiotic stress and climate change

Chair: Volker Hahn, University of Hohenheim, Stuttgart, Germany

Future soybean production depends on the ability of soybean varieties to adapt to climate change. In this session, we will discuss breeding for the associated abiotic stressors such as drought, heat, flooding or increased solar radiation.

Breeding for biotic stress

Chair: Istvan Rajcan, University of Guelph, Guelph, Canada

The session will cover current topics in breeding soybean for resistance to insects, nematodes and fungal diseases. 

 

WEEDS, DISEASES, PESTS, AND THEIR MANAGEMENT

 

New and emerging pests and diseases

Chairs: Tomislav Duvnjak, Agriculture Institute of Osijek, Osijek, Croatia

Tessie Wilkerson, Mississippi State University, Stoneville, Mississippi, USA

This session is dedicated to new diseases and pests that appear on soybeans as a result of changes in biotic factors, primarily climate changes to which we are exposed. The consequence of this is emerging diseases, pathogens and pests adapted to the newly created conditions, which can or do cause more and more economically significant damage.

Strategies for disease, pest and weed control

Chair: Yuanchao Wang, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing, China

Diseases, pests and weeds are important factors limiting soybean production. This section focusses on the molecular mechanisms by which diseases, pests or weeds cause damage on soybean, soybean resistance, as well as developed control measures.

Managing disease, pest and weed resistance

Chair: Daniel Ploper, Estación Experimental Agroindustrial Obispo Colombres, Tucumán, Argentina
Application of pesticides is a common strategy used to effectively reduce biotic stresses in soybean crops.  However, multiple factors contributed to the appearance of biotypes of weeds, insects, and pathogens which have evolved resistance to these chemicals.  In this session we will focus on the impact of these resistant biotypes and on the main management strategies recommended to reduce their impact on soybean yields.

Advanced tools and sensors for soybean protection

Chair: Asheesh K. Singh, Iowa State University, Iowa, USA

This session will showcase exciting avenues in stress and plant phenotyping using advanced tools and sensors; and include advances in sensing, modeling and actuation using the cyber-physical systems loop, use of smartphone and web-apps, and advances in computer vision, machine learning and artificial intelligence for stress related research and production. 

 

AGRONOMY, PHYSIOLOGY, AND AGROTECHNOLOGY

 

Yield and seed composition response to environment

Chair: Seth Naeve, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, Minnesota, USA
Soybean is the global cornerstone for vegetable protein and fats, supporting feed and food for a larger and more discerning population.  Consumers demand an abundant supply of consistently high-quality soybean products.  This session will focus on environmental impacts on global soybean production and composition.  

Using data-driven knowledge for profitable crop management

Chair: Paul Esker, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania, USA
This session aims to discuss using novel experimental and data-driven approaches to identify profitable soybean systems. The session will highlight different examples currently used emphasizing collaborations with farmers. The latest methods and results from these efforts will be presented and discussed.

Soil fertility and plant nutrition

Chair: Hong Liao, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, Fuzhou, China

The session will address major soil and nutrition related factors determining soybean performance such as changes of soil fertility, soil health and soil sutainability in soybean field, nutrient cycling in soybean based agro-ecosystems, nutrient acquisition, translocation and/or assimilation in soybean plants, nutrient efficiency and its regulatory mechanisms in soybean, and breeding for nutrient efficient soybean varieties and its application. 

Soybean rhizosphere and nitrogen fixation

Chair: Angela Sessitsch, AIT Austrian Institute of Technology, Tulln, Austria

In this session we will address beneficial interactions between soybean and associated microorganisms. This includes the symbiosis with nodule-forming and nitrogen-fixing rhizobia, but also with microorganisms providing other benefits such as nutrient mobilisation or increased stress tolerance and pathogen control.

Seed production, vigour and technology

Chairs: Julia Buitink, INRAE and  Institute of Horticulture and Seeds, Beaucouzé, France
Michael Gohn, Euroseeds, Brussels, Belgium and Probstorfer Saatzucht, Vienna, Austria
Producing highly vigorous soybean seeds is a key lever to increase crop production efficiency. This session will address recent research and technological advances underlying the production of high quality seeds for fast and homogenous seedling establishment, both from a preharvest and post-harvest perspective. 

 

FOOD, FEED, AND NUTRITION

 

Chemistry and nutrition of soybeans and soy products

Chairs: Keshun Liu, USDA/ARS, Aberdeen, Idaho, USA

Carl M. Parsons, University of Illinois, Urbana, Illinois, USA

This session covers recent developments in chemistry and analysis of nutrients and antinutrients in soybeans and soy products and the latest work and findings in human and animal nutrition of various soy products as foods and feeds.  

Feed and aquaculture developments

Chairs: Mian N. Riaz, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas, USA

Iani Adrian Chihaia, Independent, Bucharest, Romania

Feed industry is looking to find alternative protein sources to produce sustainable aqua feed. Soybean ingredients have gained the popularity because its yearlong availability, sustainable supplies, and high protein content. This session will discuss soy ingredients in feed and aqua feed production, nutritional advantages and effect on processing aqua feed.  

Soy protein functionality and processing

Chair: Leonard Sagis, Wageningen University, Wageningen, The Netherlands
The protein transition from animal-based proteins to more sustainably producible plant-based proteins is currently an important theme in the field of Food Science & Technology. Progress in this area is currently hampered by a lack of general knowledge on the link between plant-protein molecular structure and techno-functionality. Plant proteins tend to perform worse with respect to foaming, emulsifying, and gelling behavior, than the animal-based proteins they are supposed to replace, and during extraction and processing the structure of plant proteins is often significantly affected, leading to a further decrease in nutritional and functional properties. Soy protein extract is still one of the key ingredients used by the food industry for plant-based products. New plant-based products are entering the market continuously, but their development is mostly based on trial-and-error approaches, and a consistent approach to go from starting materials to products, which is robust with respect to source variations, is still missing. In this session we will focus on recent advances in establishing structure-function relations for soy and other plant-based proteins, and finding optimal processing methods to obtain soy-based products with desired functionality.

The future of soy is food

Chair: Matthias Krön, Donau Soja Association, Vienna, Austria

International consulting companies forecast a global decline in the consumption of animal-based food products. How will consumers and the food industry respond to the reduced role of livestock in our diets? What requirements must soybean cultivars and products meet to contribute to this change in consumption?

Assessing sustainability of soybean supply chains

Chairs: Thomas Nemecek, Agroscope, Life Cycle Assessment research group, Zurich, Switzerland
Werner Zollitsch, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences (BOKU), Vienna, Austria 

The sustainability of soybean supply chains depends on where and how soybean is grown and how it is used. We welcome contributions assessing one or several dimensions of sustainability along the supply chain including crop production, use in animal and human nutrition, and co-products applying different systems approaches. 

 

BUSINESS AND LEGAL

 

Policy, the regulatory environment, and corporate social responsibility (CSR)

Chair: Donal Murphy-Bokern, Independent, Lohne, Germany

Science and technology provides opportunities but the interaction between public and business policies are crucial to innovation. This is especially true of the soybean.  The aim of this session is to foster dialogue between experts in the natural sciences, policy, and business to find ways forward in governance that advance the contribution of soybean to sustainable development. 

Poster sessions 

Poster contributions presenting the latest research results are considered as valuable as oral contributions. All posters will be on display throughout the whole conference. Dedicated poster sessions will allow for presentations, personal interaction, networking, and discussion between individual poster authors and all conference participants. All poster abstracts from registered participants will appear in the electronic book of abstracts. 

Workshops 

 Soybean for Africa 

Chair: Brian Diers, University of Illinois, Urbana, Illinois, USA 

There is growing demand for soybean in Africa but production is limited by low yields. This workshop will focus on soybean improvement in Africa and will include talks on breeding and other research that address the low yields found on the continent. 

Organic soybean breeding (ECOBREED) 

Chair: Vuk Djordjevic, Institute of Field and Vegetable Crops, Novi Sad, Serbia 
Two student workshops on advanced genotyping and phenotyping will be held within a special WSRC-ECOBREED cooperation in which the ECOBREED project is covering the conference fee. This requires a specific application of eligible student participants through the conference registration procedure.

 

Introduction to SoyBase (soybase.org), the Soybean Breeder’s Toolbox 

Chair: Rex Nelson, USDA/ARS and Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa, USA 

This workshop will be an introduction to SoyBase the USDA-ARS soybean genetics and genomics database and the genomics and genetics tools available at SoyBase as well as the USDA-ARS Legume Information System (LIS) database and relevant tools. 

Science for Success: A model program for applied research and extension outputs 

Chair: Rachel Vann, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina, USA
The Science for Success project has evolved into a high functioning engine delivering data-driven best management practices (BMP’s) to U.S. soybean farmers. The Science for Success team is composed of soybean Extension personnel from across the U.S. who serve more than 90% of U.S. soybean acres that collaboratively investigate BMP’s and subsequently disseminate gleaned information using diverse outreach strategies including partners such as SRIN, CPN, and the U.S. Soybean Research Collaborative (USSRC). This team leverages QSSB funding and other funding sources (ie USDA-NIFA) to support common-theme localized research efforts needed to generate data-derived BMP’s. We seek USB funding through the proposed project to support subsequent collaborative Extension efforts. This project then generates Extension publications, social media campaigns, videos, and webinars that will deliver BMP’s to U.S. soybean farmers.  In this workshop, we will discuss the key components that have made Science for Success effective and dive into lessons learned. Core topics of focus will include conducting effective collaborative research, delivering recommendations using diverse outreach strategies, and the mentorship value of this initiative for junior faculty and graduate students. 

Knowledge exchange for European soybean agronomists 

Chair: Leopold Rittler, Donau Soja, Vienna, Austria 

Reflecting the wide range of soil and climate conditions, soybean production methods vary greatly across Europe. In this workshop, representatives from the main soybean producing regions will present and discuss their local approaches, challenges and solutions. Topics addressed: tillage systems, management of weeds, pests, and disease, harvesting, etc. Regional reporters: Terres Innovia (France); Soia Italia (Italy); Agricultural Chamber of Austria (Central Europe); Institute of Field and Vegetable Crops Novi Sad (South-Eastern Europe); and tbc (Ukraine)

Soy processing technologies  

Chair: Werner Sitzmann,  KAHL HOLDING GmbH , Germany

Night of European Soy
(Monday, June 20, 2023)

Excursions (Friday, June 23, 2023) 

 

Joint FAO/IAEA Division, Seibersdorf Laboratories, Plant Breeding Unit 

Food processing and local enterprises tour (University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences Vienna, Department of Food Science and Technology / Food processing pilot plant, Landgarten) 

Organic soybean production (Esterhazy estate) 

Tours of the Vienna area