ILSoyAdvisor Blog

Most farmers I know work like dogs from the first dry day in March through the time corn is “laid by,” usually around the 4th of July. After that, the corn has pollinated most years and it is time to mow roadsides, county fair time and time for family vacations. But with soybeans, the time to really emphasize management has just begun. One of the most frequent questions I get from growers is “Why can’t I grow better beans than I did 10 years...

We have conducted numerous studies over the last 10 years on soybean seeding rates. In almost all instances, we rarely observed a response to rates above 150,000 seeds/acre.

In 2015, we examined the response of soybean under high input management (~200,000 seeds/acre with a fungicide/insecticide seed treatment as well as a foliar fungicide, Priaxor, applied at 4 fluid oz. /acre on 7/31 at the R3 stage) compared with...

Going into 2016 growers are working hard to manage input costs to accommodate today’s low commodity prices, along with their expected yield, in order to return a profit. A lot of ”economic type” questions have come up this past winter surrounding seed selection and seed treatment needs, particularly on soybeans.

Soybean seed treatments have become standard throughout the industry to protect developing soybean plants from yield- and...

We all know that this year is going to be a year of managing risk and production costs. We always face a risk when farming, as we rely on our weather to bless us with a crop to harvest. However, this year we are also carrying a heavy burden of financial risk as well. With +/-$9 soybeans and what seems like higher input costs, every decision we make in our operations is a risk. With risk there is also reward and we need to figure out what our...