What are you doing this summer?
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EmailThe soybean team field crew busy planting the final variety trials in an irrigated field in St. Joseph County.
End of May in mid Michigan: corn and soybeans are going in the ground, the tractors are rolling, and the 2026 season is officially ON. This week, we catch up with our very own Soybean Team: Randy Laurenz, Alexis Zimmerman and Zach Long.
This week the crew is planting one of the final soybean variety trials of the season in an irrigated field in St. Joseph County. These trials are a critical part of the program:
We rent land from farmers called cooperators to plant variety trials. The seed companies pay fees to participate, and the harvest goes back to the cooperators, who also gain trusted yield data which is passed on to all Michigan producers. In the lab we look at qualities such as protein, saturated fat, and linoleic and oleic acids.
“But there’s no lab test for yield,” says research assistant Randy Laurenz. "One thing that cannot be tested in the lab is yield — so that’s what we’re doing now!”
Randy, who continues his family farming tradition in mid Michigan, has spent years creating and maintaining long-term relationships with cooperators across the state to test soybean varieties in the field. This summer, he’s working long days in the field alongside Alexis Zimmerman and Zach Long to keep the trials moving.
To get to this point, Randy works with MSU soybean breeder Dr Dechun Wang on grant-funded development of new varieties, which means running several trials at once and evaluating plants for molecular markers and performance traits.
Then, he manages the commercial soybean variety trials program, where soybean companies are invited to participate for a fee. The program serves as a trusted source for side-by-side field comparisons while also generating important income to help sustain the research effort.
Today’s plots are being planted with a purpose-built research seed planter designed specifically for seed trials. The planter can handle multiple seed varieties at once, allowing researchers to create accurate side-by-side comparisons that ultimately help farmers make better decisions in the field.
So enjoy the beautiful weather! For the soybean team it means long days, dusty boots, research plots, and the never-ending pursuit of better yield.
