With more than four decades of experience in Argentina, the National Soybean Cultivar Evaluation Network (RECSO) will expand to a regional scale in 2026. This transition will establish a network bringing together Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, Colombia, and Peru as active members in generating and analyzing agronomic information.
The initiative proposes the creation of the Regional Network for the Evaluation of Soybean Cultivars (RRECSO-Americas), which over three years will foster regional cooperation through unified experimental protocols, shared governance, and collaboration with the University of Florida (United States) to develop predictive models.
Cristian Vissani, national coordinator of the RECSO, explained that “the main objective of the project is to reduce the gap between real and potential yields limited by water, by optimizing the choice of cultivation and agronomic management in Latin America.” In that sense, he specified that “networks of comparative soybean yield tests will be developed in the participating countries, with a unified protocol, in order to identify superior genotypes and management practices adapted to each environment.”
The direct beneficiaries “will be the soybean producers of the participating countries, along with seed companies, technical advisors and research and extension personnel belonging to the national agricultural research institutes,” said Vissani.
Expanded Model
“The relevant thing is that we launched a network aimed at reducing productive gaps and transferring innovation, based on the interactive model that we seek to promote from INTA,” said Juan Cruz Molina, director of the INTA Córdoba Regional Center.
In Argentina, the model is based on collaboration among INTA, the Argentine Seed Association (ASA), and seed companies, supported by a broader network that includes universities, producer groups, and organizations such as CREA and AAPRESID. These actors contribute to the generation, validation, and dissemination of information, according to a press release.
“The participation of our working group is associated with the evaluation of cultivars, through the analysis of the data and the estimation of the effects of the genotype-environment interaction throughout the continent,” Juan Sebastián Panelo, a researcher at the Center for Crop Transformation of the University of Florida, said.
Referring to the Argentine experience of the RECSO, he maintained that the model “has been prolific and successful” and considered that its expansion on a South American scale “represents a leap in quality in the information that can be generated, to advance in a regional integration of data to strengthen productive decision-making.”
Eugenia Saini, executive secretary of FONTAGRO, explained that the initiative “responds directly to one of the main structural challenges of agriculture in the region, which is to close the yield gaps in a strategic crop such as soybeans without expanding the agricultural border, and also in a context of growing climate variability and environmental restrictions that are imposed on traditional production systems.”
The initiative, which seeks to expand the public–private collaboration model, will be co-financed by FONTAGRO, administered by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), together with contributions from participating public and private institutions.
