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Agronomist says planting soybeans early proves profitable

A sales agronomist says planting soybeans early has brought eight and half bushels more to their growers at no additional cost.

“We’re optimizing that plant and light interception and getting quicker canopy. We’re spending a little more time in some vital late vegetative growth phases as well as early reproductive phases so we’re able to pack on a little bit more yield during those phases.”

Kris Ehler, with Ehler Brothers Company has done early planting trials in east central Illinois for the last 10 years and says growers in their area give up nearly a half a bushel per day if they plant after May 10^th. He tells Brownfield sometimes beans are planted later because farmers are focused on getting corn in the ground.

“We’ve made great gains in the last four or five years and one of those reasons is because corn has been a very depressed market and soybeans have kept our profitability on our farms. As corn recovers and rebounds in price, don’t go away from some of the management strategies that we have implemented in soybeans.”

Ehler says if growers focus on managing both crops equally, they will be better at optimizing yields on both ends.

Brownfield interviewed Ehler at the Illinois Soybean Association Better Beans series in Champaign.