Honing in on the proper seeding rate for soybeans, according to new numbers and new analysis from our friends at the Iowa Soybean Association. Always helping to improve, that’s the goal of Iowa Soybean Association checkoff funded research. Joe McClure, ISA director of research, talked about the benefits they provide for farmers.
“Couple of key projects in 2024. It’s not a real exciting project, but I really like it. It’s a seeding rate project and we have that across about 40 locations this year we’re going to do another 40 plus locations next year. You know, some people may say, oh, it’s already been done yet as long as new varieties are coming out, new genetics are coming out, we always have to continue to look are we still planting the right amount.”
McClure says many of the new varieties are now capable of more branching than in the past, which provides more pods of potential, so to speak, and he also adds that there are quite a few regional and soil type differences that need to be taken into account, which is the value in part at least of replicated trials year over year.
“Sometimes our profitability for a for an acre is not growing more. It’s cutting the waste out. And so why plant 170,000 seeds per acre when 120,000 will get us the same? Would have some key savings there. We’ve had good success stories of people doing that and saving money per acre where they can invest elsewhere.”
Of course, many of us have kept an eye on some different planting date studies that have been done, which usually lead to different final stand counts than what was planted. Germination percentage on different varieties also comes into play in making this calculation, and you can find the latest results at isoybeans.com under the research tab.
