OMAFRA soybean specialist Horst Bohner is back on his tractor and rolling soybeans for a second year as part of a multi-year research trial. The fundamental idea behind the research is to somehow induce a response that will cause the soybean plant to become more bushy and produce more nodes. At meetings this winter, growers… Read more »
Category: Soybean Planting
Soybean School: How Pre-till vs No-Till stack up for optimal plant stand counts
On the first day of summer how many soybean plants per acre are required to maintain 100 percent yield potential? The answer is simple – 150,000 plants per acre. But there are many management factors to consider when trying to hit that number. In this episode of the RealAgriculture Soybean School, Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food… Read more »
Soybean School: Planting twin rows in strip till
Strip tillage in corn is growing in popularity in Ontario, but we don’t often see the tillage strategy employed in soybeans. On this episode of RealAgriculture’s Soybean School, AGRIS Co-operative agronomist Dale Cowan takes us to a strip-tilled field, which features twin row, 7.5-inch soybeans planted on 30-inch centres. In the field, Cowan’s bother, Larry… Read more »
Soybean School: No quick fix for managing protein
The introduction of protein price discounts by at least one soybean buyer in Western Canada this past winter has left soybean growers wondering what can be done to ensure Prairie soybeans are high enough in protein content. Unfortunately, there’s no quick or easy management fix, says Dennis Lange, pulse and soybean production specialist with Manitoba… Read more »
Soybean School: Why tackle herbicide resistance with multiple modes of action?
Many agronomists talk about the importance of multiple modes of action when planning a weed control program. In this episode of RealAgriculture’s Soybean School, Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs weed specialist Mike Cowbrough shows you why. We catch up with Cowbrough as he surveys a patch of Canada fleabane that has survived… Read more »
Soybean School: Scout to evaluate your stand and when to go rolling
What’s your strategy when scouting a newly emerged soybean field? When Agromart Group agronomist Steph Kowalski walks into a soybean field this time of year, the first thing she looks to assess is final emergence and population. “It’s important to know how well we got that seed into the ground,” Kowalski tells RealAgriculture’s Bernard Tobin… Read more »
Soybean School: Does row orientation impact weed pressure and yield?
By François Tardif Many master gardeners would tell you that to maximize your vegetable yields, rows need to be oriented in a north-south manner. This is supposed to maximize light interception by the crops, which in turn maximizes photosynthesis. In contrast, east-west rows have more shading and this negatively impacts yields. Is the same true… Read more »
Soybean School: Understanding the total yield cost of bin-run seed
There are certainly unknowns and risks that come with planting bin-run soybean seed versus certified seed, but one significant piece of information has been confirmed by crop insurance data in Manitoba: older, off-patent varieties don’t have the same yield potential as newer varieties. As Dennis Lange, pulse specialist with Manitoba Agriculture, points out in this… Read more »
Soybean School: Understanding iron deficiency chlorosis risk heading into planting
As planting decisions are finalized, the risk of iron deficiency chlorosis (IDC) is one of the factors soybean growers in Western Canada and the Northern Plains are keeping in mind after unprecedented yellowing due to IDC in many areas last year. A wet 2016 growing season followed by a dry start to 2017, left elevated… Read more »
Soybean School: How do researchers unlock higher yields?
Does throwing the kitchen sink at your soybean crop provide an economic yield response? The answer is a definitive “No” says University of Minnesota associate professor Seth Naeve. His conclusion is based on the the results of a huge three-year U.S. study that he shared with growers attending the Southwest Agricultural Conference in Ridgetown, Ont.,… Read more »
Soybean School: How wide is your spring burndown window?
If you have weeds pop up prior to planting soybeans you can control them with a burndown herbicide application. But what happens when rain and wind conspire to prevent you from applying a burndown and you have to control weeds after planting? In this episode of the Soybean School, OMAFRA weed control specialist Mike Cowbrough… Read more »
Soybean School: Make resistance a priority when selecting varieties
Next time you chose a soybean variety, don’t just consider yield trials. Be sure to take a close look at disease trials; they help determine whether the yield potential of the variety you select will become reality in your field, says OMAFRA plant pathologist Albert Tenuta. In this episode of the Soybean School, we catch up… Read more »
Soybean School: Learning from Ontario’s 2017 crop
It’s not official, but it looks like Ontario’s 2017 soybean yield will come in at around 43 bushels per acre. That’s down from the 46-bushel five-year average, but considering the challenges Mother Nature threw at the crop during the past growing year, OMAFRA soybean specialist Horst Bohner will take it. In this edition of RealAgriculture… Read more »
Soybean School: Rotating resistant varieties key to controlling SCN
Soybean cyst nematodes have been stealing yield in Ontario fields for more than 20 years. SCN-resistant varieties are a key tool to help defend against the invading pest, but growers need to ensure they’re not putting the effectiveness of these resistant varieties at risk. In this episode of RealAgriculture Soybean School, OMAFRA plant pathologist Albert… Read more »
Soybean School: Preventing those yellow patches next year
Most of the yellow patches in soybean fields in Western Canada and the northern U.S. have disappeared as the plants have recovered, or turned necrotic and died, but one of the big questions heading into harvest is: what toll did widespread issues with iron deficiency chlorosis (IDC) earlier in the season take on yields? The… Read more »