Site gathers Wisconsin’s top researchers for one-stop shop

The Badger, a known figure to Wisconsin residents, is now the face of a new website dedicated to Wisconsin production research, with the launch of the new Badger Crop Network.

With funds from the Wisconsin Soybean Marketing Board (WSMB) and the Wisconsin Corn Promotion Board (WCPB), four researchers through the University of Wisconsin-Madison have a new home for their research content and findings.

“We thought it would be a really good idea to join forces and have a one-stop shop for farmers to be able to come in and see all the information that we’re doing related to soybeans, corn and small grains for the state of Wisconsin and beyond,” UW-Madison Small Grain Specialist Shawn Conley said.

Conley, Damon Smith, a UW-Madison professor and extension specialist, Rodrigo Werle, a UW-Madison associate professor and extension cropping systems weed scientist and UW-Madison Assistant Professor Harkirat Kaur each contribute research and work to the Badger Crop Network website.

“Now that we have it all in one place, not only is this going to be better for stakeholders, for our growers, primarily, but this is also going to be great for us,” Werle said. “We’re very excited about this.”

Each researcher previously used their own resources to share research information, but with the Badger Crop Network it brings all the information to one central location.

Badger Crop Network will highlight information from each researcher in a familiar format through blog posts, social media posts and sharing of research papers and content on pages of the website.

Research reports and information from Conley, Smith, Kaur and Werle are also available on the new website for easy access, including WSMB and WCPB checkoff supported research.

With the familiar comes new features on Badger Crop Network.

New look

While staples are great for the website and users, two new features Smith highlighted on the website are the Crop Protection Network tool for crop disease forecasting and the Wisconsin disease forecasting tool.

“Now we’ve got all the various disease models consolidated into one tool,” Smith said. “The Wisconsin-centric tool is interesting because it does some of the other things that the Crop Protection Network version does, but it also adds the new Wisconsin data layer on top. Folks can either get their disease forecast they want for a particular Wisconsin station, or they can get a site specific or GPS specific. Those are both brand new and now on the website, and I think they’ll be important for folks, especially as we get into the season.”

Another addition for users is the ease of subscribing to the new Badger Bushel Bulletin e-newsletter, which will highlight a selection of stories from the new website that has content from all four researchers. The electronic publication allows researchers to share agronomic information in timely fashion.

The branding on the electronic newsletter will follow in line with the new Badger Crop Network website.

If you see a badger in your email, it’s not a yield-robber but rather a new source of corn, soybean and small grain information specified for Wisconsin and the Midwest.

“It’s helped us put together a collective and unified message that goes out to farmers so they’re not having to wade through multiple emails and sources of information,” Conley said.

Badger Crop Network is a new source of collaborated information in one place for agriculture professionals convenience. No more apps for the phone, no more checking multiple websites. Just one website chock full of information.

“I think it’s important that we consolidated down as a group and are more complementary to each other, and now we have everything in one place for folks so they can get the answer a lot quicker,” Smith said. “I think the real value here is to be able to get all that information quicker.”