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The Illinois Soybean Association’s soy-checkoff-funded Soybean Summits connect Illinois soybean farmers with expert advice about how to increase yields and profits. Consider these five timely soybean-production tips presented recently. For the full presentations, visit www.SoyYieldChallenge.com and click on “Soybean Summit.”

1. Protect pod potential. “Although seed size is important, it is actually seed number that increases yield,” says Bill Wiebold, University of Missouri plant sciences professor. “The focus throughout the season should be to increase node number and number of pods on those nodes.” Since the top third of the plant absorbs almost three-fourths of sunlight, it is crucial to protect leaves all the way to seed-fill with scouting and foliar protection products. Narrow rows also help plants capture more sunlight and produce more bushels.
2. Double up modes of action. Arkansas soybean yield champion Eddie Tackett has faced challenges controlling Palmer amaranth and pigweed – weeds that increasingly threaten Illinois fields. He applies pre-emergent herbicides and postemergent, if needed. “We have to alternate different modes of action we have to battle the Palmer and pigweed,” Tackett says. Willie Vogt, corporate editorial director, Farm Progress Companies, refers to Palmer amaranth as the “plant from another planet.” He advises to spray at least two modes of action, pick up the plant and move it to the end of the row to destroy it.
3. Set cover crop goals. “Don’t wait until September,” says Joel Gruver, assistant professor of soil science and sustainable ag at Western Illinois University. “You would never get the planter out on the first day of planting corn or soybeans. It is the same with cover crops.” The Midwest Cover Crops Council’s “Cover Crop Decision Tool” can help identify species and planting dates with good potential based on location, goals, drainage and other factors.
4. Root for soil health. With a solid system of beneficial mycorrhizal fungi below the surface, soybean plants will benefit from better rooting, nutrients and water uptake. Jill Clapperton, president of Rhizoterra, recommends farmers submit samples for the Haney Test to learn about available nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium, soil nutrients and microbial activity. Want another indicator of soil health? She says dig up roots and make sure your plants are nodulated. If they’re not, get a soil test or talk to an inoculants specialist.
5. Think before applying nitrogen (N). Although it may be tempting to dump it on, agronomist Steve Ebelhar advises against applying nitrogen on soybeans until more definitive research is conducted. “Most yield responses to supplemental N occur in high-yield situations when N is applied at R1 to R3,” he says. “But if the plant doesn’t use the additional N to make yield, someone will ask what happened to it.” Clapperton agrees, “We have to think seriously about how we use things and whether we really need to.”

This article originally appeared in Illinois Soybean Association’s Illinois Field & Bean newsletter.