Tips to Maximize Soybean Yields
A recent Successful Farming article provided readers with helpful tips for bagging more soybeans next fall. Below are a few of the 21 tips provided.
1) Look for a high-yielding variety in your maturity zone. Mark Grundmeier, product manager for Latham Hi-Tech Seeds, says variety selection is THE most important factor contributing to soybean yields. Careful variety selection can help reduce or even eliminate many stress factors including disease, insects and Soybean Cyst Nematodes. Remember “genetics first, then traits.” You can’t expect great trait performance from inferior genetics. Read more on variety selection.
2) Plant on time. Note that this does not necessarily mean planting early, but planting timely. Mark says farmers need to balance the benefits of early planting with the risks. While soybeans are a light-sensitive crop and it stands to reason the earlier-planted crop receives more sunlight and creates more yield, farmers who plant early must also protect soybeans from seedling diseases and insects. Thus, at Latham, we recommend the use of seed treatments containing either a fungicide or a fungicide-insecticide combination. Our SoyShield™ brand seed treatments are an excellent choice to help with this.
3) Stop SDS. Last year, many farmers in the Midwest were dealt the challenge managing an SDS outbreak in their fields. In these videos, Mark Grundmeier provides tips for preventing and managing SDS.
Which of the above steps do you think is most important in maximizing yield?
Click here for the full list of tips provided in the article.
