Double nozzles are necessary to get the best possible coverage of a vertical target, true or false? Turns out, the answer is more likely that third option — the dreaded “it depends.” In this Soybean School episode, Real Agriculture’s Bernard Tobin is joined by Jason Deveau, Ontario Ministry of Agriculture and Food spray specialist to… Read More
Category: Soybean Planting
How close did you get to achieving the soybean plant density you were aiming for? What’s the yield potential of the stand you have? The only way to get a bead on those answers is to get out and scout the soybean stand early in the season — at about the first trifoliate stage. How… Read More
In a perfect world, the soybean plant would pop up out of the ground, grow some leaves and then really stretch a bit before setting where that first pod will form. The reality for many western Canadian farmers, however, is that even in a decent year, our Prairie springs are quite cool — first pod… Read More
If you’re considering growing identity-preserved (IP) soybeans this year, you’re certainly not alone. Solid premiums combined with a surplus of winter-killed winter wheat fields has many farmers becoming IP-curious, some for the very first time. In this episode of the Soybean School, Ontario field editor Bernard Tobin asks Tim Montague, procurement manager for Huron Commodities,… Read More
The 2014 planting season isn’t exactly kicking off with a bang. A hard winter, a slow spring and continued rain has been hard on winter wheat fields and has got planting off to a very slow start. While soybeans aren’t the first priority to get in the ground (they do require warm soil, after all),… Read More
Phosphorus management is and must be a long term proposition. Phosphorus behaves very differently than nitrogen in the soil, as it binds tightly to soil particles and releases slowly over time. This is good and bad — it’s not subject to the same loss risk that N is, but it also means that sometimes the… Read More
If you’re decided on rates and types of inputs, which do you skip or scale back on if margins become tight? Fungicide? Seed? Fertilizer? Should you cut back at all? The concept of intensively managing corn is widely accepted and researched, but not so with soybeans, so Dr. Dave Hooker and colleagues set out to… Read More
There are some factors that influence soybean yield far more than others, for example a healthy crop rotation is going to do far more to help the crop reach full potential than any amount of tillage. In this Soybean School episode, Horst Bohner, soybean specialist with Ontario Ministry of Agriculture and Food, recaps the top four… Read More
It seems the 2013 soybean crop defied the odds and managed to pleasantly surprise a number of farmers with decent yields. The final provincial average tally is yet to come in, but it will likely settle somewhere around the 45 or 46 bushel per acre mark. Not too shabby, considering a tough season of untimely… Read More
Rolling soybean fields at or just after planting can be most efficient, but planting conditions aren’t always exactly rolling-friendly. The good news is there is still time to roll long after seeding, with one very specific no-go window. But first, do you have to roll? That’s the question RealAgriculture.com put to Dennis Lange, farm production… Read More
While planters most certainly do a precise job at soybean planting depth, many farmers are still on the fence over whether or not the benefits are worth the added investment of a second (or third) planting implement. After all, does their existing unit do just as good a job? These are exactly the kinds of… Read More
Only a few months ago, soybeans were the darling crop of nearly every farmer from Manitoba to Alberta. The crop could do no wrong, it seemed, and everyone wanted a piece of this nitrogen-fixing pie. Acres in Manitoba were set to surpass a million if you asked someone in January, but here we are in… Read More
Building off of the success of the 300 Bushel Corn initiative, PRIDE Seeds is rolling out the 100 Bushel initiative for soybeans in 2013. Slated to take place on as many as 40 sites across Ontario, the 100 Bushel challenge seeks to showcase the optimum combination of variety choice, planting date, seed treatment, inoculant, fertility… Read More
Many factors converge in determining the final yield tally of the soybean crop each year, but choosing the highest yielding variety for your area is a good place to start. How do you know which is the highest yielding? Well, on-farm performance is a good indication, but it pays to compare what else is available…. Read More
If some is good, is more better? Well, that depends on what we’re talking about. Horst Bohner, soybean specialist with OMAFRA, definitely supports moving towards optimal number of plants per acre and that might mean higher seeding rates, but when it comes to tillage and fertilizer, less can certainly be more. Soybeans are unlike other… Read More