By SHELLY STRAUTZ-SPRINGBORN
Michigan Correspondent

EAST LANSING, Mich. — Up-to-date information for Michigan soybean growers is just a phone call away.

Farmers can now access crop and pest management information any time by calling a new toll-free soybean hotline at 888-201-9301. Presented by Soybean 2010 – a collaborative research, education and communication effort aimed at helping Michigan growers improve soybean yields and profitability – the hotline offers up-to-date messages about a variety of soybean issues.

Through the hotline, Michigan State University extension specialists record timely messages about insects, diseases, weeds, agronomic information, soybean cyst nematodes and the Michigan Automated Weather Network. Callers can listen to multiple topics without redialing and can call as often as they want. The system is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

According to Keith Reinholt, field operations director with the Michigan Soybean Promotion Committee, messages will be updated as often as necessary to provide soybean growers the most up-to-date information for improving yields and farm profitability.

“The purpose was to make something available to the grower with some immediacy,” he said. “The messages right now relate to planting and diseases and weed challenges that farmers may need to be aware of.”

Supported through the state’s soybean checkoff, Reinholt said the telephone hotline is aimed at being a convenient and accurate information source for busy farmers.

“At this time of year, farmers are in the fields and they most likely would not have their computer with them, but they more likely would have their cell phone,” he said. “Generally, when a farmer identifies his problem, he’s out in the field or in the tractor. He can dial into the hotline from anywhere.

“The whole purpose of the hotline is to communicate management concepts for the grower with some immediacy.”

Mike Staton, MSU extension educator and Soybean 2010 coordinator, said the hotline is intended to assist farmers as a timely management tool.

“We won’t be recording new information once a week if a situation is changing on a daily basis,” he said. “We already expect that soybean aphids may reach damaging population levels this season, so we plan to update the insect information on the hotline frequently from late June through mid-August with the latest scouting reports and control recommendations.”

Bob Boehm, manager of Michigan Farm Bureau’s commodity and marketing department, said the Soybean 2010 project is supported by its members through the organization’s policy. He agreed that the hotline is a valuable tool for growers.

“A lot of this came out of the concern about soybean rust a few years ago – when might the conditions be such that we should be spraying, getting that information out in a timely way,” he said. “If they’re in a tractor or wherever they’re at a particular day, they can dial in and get the latest information about what’s going on.”

The information will be specific to Michigan conditions, but will include region-specific recommendations when warranted. Topics will be added and updated under the main subject areas as needed from May through August.

Soybean 2010 partners include Michigan soybean growers, extension, Project GREEEN (Generating Research and Extension to meet Economic and Environmental Needs), the Michigan Agribusiness Assoc., the Michigan Farm Bureau and the Michigan Soybean Promotion Committee.

For more information, visit http://web1.msue.msu.edu/soybean2010 or call the hotline at 888-201-9301.