NORMAL. Ill. — A revamped VIPS (Varietal Information Program for Soybeans) database was unveiled by officials from the Illinois Soybean Assoc. (ISA), National Soybean Research Laboratory (NSRL) and Illinois Department of Agriculture during the Illinois Soybean Profitability Summit March 4 at Illinois State University.

The website, first established in 1998, recently underwent an overhaul to improve its usability and features, which are designed to make it easy for producers to identify soybean varieties suitable for their specific geographical regions and growing conditions.

“(VIPS is) a very powerful tool used by farmers and those who provide information for farmers. With new soybean varieties coming out, developed by universities and private industry, it’s very important to have head-to-head comparisons (available),” said Linda Kull, ISA director of strategic research.

Rowen Ziegler, an ISA director from La Harpe, called the relaunched VIPS website a joint effort to help soybean producers reach maximum profitability while contributing to ISA’s goal of using 600 million bushels of soybeans by 2020.

“This goal stems from predictions that the average soybean yield will need to double in the next 20 to 25 years to meet the needs of a growing world population,” Ziegler explained. “This year, ISA is putting greater focus on sharing yield-related research with farmers.

“Illinois soybean checkoff funds have helped fund VIPS, with its online database of agronomic characteristics, disease and pest resistance, protein and oil content and, of course, yield, for over 10 years. VIPS is a Consumer Reports of soybean yields.”

Another ISA director, Greenfield farmer Ross Prough, said the website can be used to gauge composition quality in soybeans such as crucial oil and protein levels.

“Fortunately, tools such as VIPS can make these tasks easier. That’s why it is important for farmers to use VIPS to validate their seed selections,” said Prough.

Ziegler added the site’s redesign retains its original foundation “but is now better suited to help Illinois soybean farmers make better seed selection choices.”

Melinda Kae Anderson and Nick Scates, representing the NSRL, attended the VIPS relaunch to offer more specifics of the site’s redesign. They said input from the ISA was crucial to supplying fresh content for the site’s database, which now includes a yield calculator, amino acids information and cell phone applications. Scates extolled the improved website’s “usability” to farmers.

“VIPS got a facelift, but ultimately, it goes beyond that,” Scates said. “The whole look and feel of the website has been redesigned; it’s a simpler and much more intuitive database.

“We’ve moved from an overloaded, busy website to a dynamic and appealing design that is more compatible across many varieties and devices such as smart phones and tablet personal computers. The homepage emanates simplicity.”

The VIPS database has been a valuable resource for entomologists and others tracking disease and resistance in soybeans grown throughout Illinois.

In 2012, VIPS research determined the status of resistance to Southern root knot nematode for all soybean cyst nematode-resistant varieties examined in state variety trials. Of more than 550 varieties evaluated, only 58 had resistance to the nematode, VIPS research showed.

The relaunched database, which features yield data for more than 500 soybean varieties tested annually by the University of Illinois-Urbana, may be accessed at www.vipsoybeans.com