With lower soybean commodity prices, attention to spending and cost savings while maintaining yields has become ever more important. Although costs saving strategies vary from producer to producer and situation to situation, paying attention to the basics can help drive yield, minimize cost, and get more efficiency out of your soybean production system. Timely planting and optimum seeding rates are two very important factors that can increase yields while keeping cost down.

To maximize soybean yields, planting date needs to be a strong consideration. For the southern 2/3 of Iowa, planting should start around the last week of April and for the northern 1/3 planting should begin the first week of May. By planting early, soybeans are able to establish sooner and canopy quicker which will drive yields. Although early planting can increase yields, field conditions must be suitable for planting. There is an 80 percent probability of increasing soybean yield when planting soybeans at the recommended times. Although early planting is vital to maximizing soybean yields, be sure you are paying attention to your chemical program and application, especially in no-till situations. If a pre-emerge burndown application was in the plan, be sure to stick with it and mind the recommended plant back interval.

Seeding rate is an important variable to consider when maximizing economic return per acre. Soybean plants have the ability to adjust growth and development based on plant populations. Soybeans will produce more branches and pods per plant with lower populations and less branches and pods with higher populations. University studies across the Midwest suggest a final plant stand of 100,000 plants per acre is all it takes to maximize soybean yield as well as economic return. Seeding rates of 125,000 to 140,000 seeds per acre should be adequate to attain a final plant stand of 100,000 plants per acre for the majority of Iowa producers and seeding conditions. Utilize the lower part of that range in near perfect seeding conditions with no weeds and increase seeding rate if seeding into wet or high residue areas. Utilizing a good insecticide/fungicide seed treatment is also extremely important when reducing seeding rates.

Have a safe and happy spring.

Tim Berkland serves the FS System and is a GROWMARK Strategic Agronomy Marketing Manager, he can be reached at  [email protected].