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Adjusting soybean seeding rates based on plant survival rates, soil conditions and planting dates can reduce the risk of yield and profit losses due to suboptimal densities in a low-yield environment, while limiting higher seed costs, according to researchers at Kansas State Extension.
They use the formula above to calculate seeding rate. The researchers say typically about 80% of seeds will survive and become part of the final plant population. Once the rate is determined, identify yield potential for each environment in the field is a good practice to refine the soybean seeding rate.
No-Till Legend and retired Ohio State University ag engineer Randall Reeder says it’s clear no-till and cover crops could have prevented a dust storm that led to a deadly 70-car pileup on Interstate 55 in central Illinois May 1.
“Some people would refer to this as the perfect storm, although I don’t think there’s anything perfect about it,” Reeder says in an interview on No-Till Farmer’s Conservation Ag Update broadcast news show. “It’s late spring. People are out tilling the ground. There’s a dry surface area, and suddenly extreme winds blow in the wrong direction. This situation doesn’t occur very often, probably no more than once every 15-20 years in a major corn producing state.”
Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs soybean specialist Horst Bohner says Ontario research shows soybeans planted in 15-inch rows typically outyield soybeans…