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Soybean Summit about more yield
The Illinois Soybean Summit is about getting more yield. Illinois soybean grower Jenny Mennenga tells Brownfield the summit is one of the most important programs from the Illinois Soybean Association.
“Because it’s really about teaching farmers and learning from others in the industry about ways that we can improve our soybean yields and profitability on our farm,” Mennenga, a director at large with the Illinois Soybean Association, told Brownfield Ag News as the summit opened Thursday.
Most segments of the one-day program were directed at getting a better yield. Early planting, said Mennenga, has boosted her yields from 65 bushels to the acre up to 75 bushels per acre.
“Ten bushels an acre probably came from early planting,” said Mennenga, “and just really managing for soybean yields.
An agronomist who spoke on the Illinois Soybean Summit program agrees. A low-cost method of increasing yield involves timing and stress, according to Kris Ehler with Ehler Brothers Company in Thomasboro, Illinois. Ehler tells Brownfield he has consistently gained 8.5 bushels to the acre over five seasons by planting in April versus those acres planted in May.
“It’s a management practice that guys can do that doesn’t cost them anything,” Ehler tells Brownfield, “those are free bushels.”
Soybeans respond well to stress under some conditions, said Ehler, the 2017 Illinois Soybean Master Adviser winner. For instance, when farmers use a rolling mechanism on soybeans early, Ehler says they can get a two to three-bushel response.
“That plant is able to branch more,” said Ehler, “their defense mechanisms become heightened, almost like a fungicidal effect late in the growing season with a response to stress.”
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