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Inputs could ‘wake another 10 to 15 bushel’ from soybeans

A soybean yield contest winner in South Dakota is planning strategy to get more bushels out of his 2021 crop. Moody County farmer Aubry Scherff tells Brownfield treating to prevent white mold, attention to seed populations and fertility and early planting contributed to winning last year’s Group One, Non-Irrigated category in the South Dakota Soybean Yield Contest.

“I just felt like people weren’t throwing the inputs into soybeans like they potentially could; wake that crop up another 10 to 15 bushel,” said Scherff Wednesday. “For a minimal amount of investment, the return, we found, was just tremendous.”

Scherff’s 2020 contest yield was 82.26 bushels an acre, but he says his goal is to get the most he can out of his entire crop.

“At the end of the year, I need to have a solid return on the whole farm,” said Scherff, who farms with his uncle, Paul Scherff. “I want my crop to be exceptional.”

Higher commodity prices, he said, have made him optimistic, making “plans to definitely go the extra mile” for better soybean yields.