A new Purdue University Web site spills the beans about Indiana's top legume.
“Cool Bean,” a Web site at www.CoolBean.info, provides soybean growers a clearinghouse of information about the row crop.
“‘Cool Bean’ covers all facets of soybean production within Indiana and the Eastern Soybean Belt,” says Shawn Conley, Purdue Extension soybean specialist and the Web site's creator. “The site has a searchable database where users can find information on all subjects related to soybeans, whether it be in weed science, entomology, plant pathology or crop production.”
Conley's site does for soybeans what a longstanding Purdue Web site does for corn. Bob Nielsen, a Purdue Extension corn specialist, maintains “King Corn.” That site can be found at www.kingcorn.org.
“We have a section called ‘Video Crop Diagnostics’ where we provide short video clips from the field about such things as scouting for soybean aphids, scouting for soybean rust, assessing stand loss and how to estimate yield,” Conley says. The video clips are available in both dial-up and high-speed Internet connection formats.