All Posts from 2019

Soybeans yield are increasing over half a bushel per year now. Some of that increase is from genetic gain and the rest is from better management. Soybeans have the uncanny ability to produce hundreds of pods per plant, but most never make it past flower or early pod stage.

If you want to increase your soybean yields, track what is happening to pod counts during the season and see if you can do something about it. As soybean flowering...

CCA Soy Envoy Tracy Heuerman discusses the slow growth seen by soybeans early this summer and what it means for your fields as fall approaches. Listen and learn tips about how to make the most of your soybean crop this season.

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It appears that 2019 could be a very heavy Japanese Beetle year. To prepare for dealing with this pest, below is some information on managing Japanese Beetles in both corn and soybeans:
 
Soybeans: Now that most of our soybeans are flowering, we should scout them for percent (%) defoliation. To determine if an insecticide application is needed, estimate the percent defoliation on randomly selected...

Managing nitrogen is one of the most difficult and unpredictable things that grain producers need to do.  In a world where environmental concerns come to the forefront more and more, nitrogen management deserves attention. 

Fall application of nitrogen is popular among retailers and farmers in Illinois. One reason is that it spreads the spring workload out. The first caution with fall applied nitrogen is that it is not recommended...

In many parts of the state we have been plagued by saturated soils from a very early time. We continued to get record rainfall from April, when most farmers would think about planting, all the way through today. This has caused not only late-planted soybeans, but soybeans that in a lot of cases were planted into less than ideal soil conditions and are experiencing continued saturated soil conditions. This has caused soybeans to take a long...

We often talk about evaluating the components of yield from plant population to pod number per plant to seed number per pod and seed size. However, the number of pods a plant can set, retain and grow to maturity appears to be the most promising factor to influence with good management practices. Seeds per pod and seed weight have a much smaller impact on final yield. 
 
There are three facts we should acknowledge: ...

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