19 It’s Farming. And It’s Better. Better Farming | May 2024 bility of growing a larger, more robust plant that will have more nodes, flowers, and subsequently pods/beans at harvest time. I am just over six feet in height. When talking about soybean populations, I make a few reference points to my height. If you have soybeans in a crop management zone that are above my waist in height compared to soybeans that are at my knee height, this is a fantastic way to talk about soybean populations. Scouting fields will help you get a sense of these height differences at critical growing periods in soybean development stages. The lower-height soybeans will not have as many nodes and subsequent pods/beans, so you need to offset this with more plants/ acre to have the same number of nodes/acres. Scouting fields at key times will help give you a better sense of these height differences within your fields. Keep in mind water-holding capabilities of your fields, just like with corn. The key to soybeans is to set a large pod load, maintain it, and harvest it. In a soybean crop, well over 50 per cent of the soybean flowers will abort and not make grain. There is a balance needed to get the right populations based on a yield zone’s potential. Other factors that should be reviewed for soybean seeding rates include: No-till or minimum-till soybeans in high residue situations calls for higher seeding rates. Planting soybeans into high-residue corn rotations versus soybeans calls for seeding rate differences, especially if row cleaners are not used at planting time. For ultra-early planting dates, look at increasing soybean seeding rates. Treated seed versus none. Bump rates up when not using seed treatments. A few concluding thoughts Setting seeding rates is an art and a science all rolled into one. Utilize harvest maps to look at variability of yield across a given field. If corn and soybean yields vary less than five per cent yield from one side of the field to another it is easy to set just one planting rate. If you have variability of 10 to 20 per cent or even higher across a field, the use of variable rate seeding (VRS) will improve your field profitability immensely. Reach out to equipment vendors and seed suppliers and your local agronomy advisor to explore the benefits of VRS on your farm. BF PAUL HERMANS Paul Hermans, CCA-ON is an area agronomist in Eastern Ontario with Corteva Agriscience. POPULATIONS FILTRATION YOU CAN TRUST. WIX® heavy-duty filters are built to withstand the rigorous demands of the ag industry. By extending service intervals and reducing downtime, the right filters can increase your production and yield. WIX filters are tested and trusted—even in the harshest conditions. WIX-003083-04_2024 Trade Media HD_Agriculture_V4.indd 1 4/10/24 3:33 PM
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