Strategies for soybean success
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Jodi:
Welcome to the Successful Farming podcast, I’m Jodi Henke. This podcast is brought to you by the Enlist weed control system. Visit enlist.com to learn more about non-nonsense weed control.
Jodi:
DeAnna Thomas is visiting with Cedarville Ohio farmer Cory Atley. He practices non-irrigated farming on vast acreage, and when it comes to soybean production, he’s consistently achieving higher yields on every acre. He’s also developed programs to help fellow farmers learn timing, application rates, and how to utilize their own data to maximize yields.
DeAnna:
Thanks so much for taking the time to visit with us. I know in the April edition of Successful Farming, you took the time to visit with our executive editor Gil Gullickson and you talked about shaping up those soybean yields. Is that right?
Cory:
That's correct.
DeAnna:
Here it is March. We're getting ready to head into April. Farmers are starting to get ready to roll. Planters are being pulled into shops and seeds being delivered on the farm. So, let's talk about setting farmers up for success for the 2021 planting season when it comes to raising soybeans.
Cory:
We're kind of at that stretch now to where everything's getting ready to rock and roll. I've actually heard of a few reports that people actually have already started some beans in the ground already. The one thing that we like to do is just try to be patient. Right now we're getting everything out of the barn and going through them, making sure all the machinery is working correctly, gauge wheels, opening disc, everything that we needed to check is set right and ready to rock and roll.
Cory:
Another big thing is just the seed. We have not treated the seeds yet because we've been waiting for the temperature to warm up. One thing that gets overlooked is people just trying to treat the soybeans too soon and then you'll get a lot of splits and cracks. So we're waiting for more consistent weather above that 50 degree range. And we'll go and get all of our seed treatments on, and then we'll be ready to rock and roll.
DeAnna:
In the last few years, we've talked a little bit about soybean yield potential. So when you look at the potential some of these newer genetics have with soybeans, talk a little bit about your method to the madness there when your goal is to grow those a hundred bushel beans.
Cory:
We like to get out early. So we're going to try to plant. One thing that we have learned is soybeans, they love the sunlight. So for that, they need to be out earlier. They need to have the populations down lower. They love to bush out. So we don't want to overcrowd the soybeans. We want to give them about as much room as we can, but we've got to be careful there, there's a fine line also. We got to have enough plants to be able to push, to be able to get them out of the ground. So it's kind of like a double edged sword there, we want to lower populations for the branching, but we also got to get them up and get them out of the ground.
DeAnna:
And when we talk about getting those up and out of the ground, like you said, some soybeans like the cooler weather, but they really like that sunshine and so timing is really of the essence when you are growing soybeans, is that right?
Cory:
Absolutely. And soybeans are, they're such an interesting crop and I guess is the best way I can put it. They're very frustrating. I'm on a new TV show this year called Pod Fathers and we just got back from meeting all of those guys and they're growing soybeans from anywhere from 110 to 160 bushel. And just sitting down and talking with them, learning their techniques and things like that. We all have different timings, but at the end of the day, we're all after the same goal. And you can really start focusing around certain times that we're all doing the same things. Early planting is one, when we get forced to plant later, we've got to bump up the population. So there's just a lot of different things that go hand in hand with these beans when it comes with technique-wise, earlier we can be a little bit higher with the population, but then mid- season we're back to our normal scripts and then later in the season, we got to bump it back up.
DeAnna:
When we talk about those plant populations and working with your soybeans, obviously, you know your farms and you know your fields and their different soil types, but you also work with other farmers in your area too, is that right?
Cory:
That's correct. With each client on a farm by farm, field by field basis, we try to look at it at a whole picture of really try to focus down on which field can handle which yield potential.
DeAnna:
Cory, talk a little bit about fertilizer and the timing behind that, because when we look at the overall picture, like you just mentioned, the last five years in farming have been tough between market prices and weather trends and different things like that. And so not only are you looking at fertilizer for optimizing those yields, but some farmers are looking at fertilizer to protect those bottom lines as well. So kind of walk us through some of your advice when it comes to applying that fertilizer.
Cory:
We do not have strip till, we're not really set up for liquid, so we're all pretty much a dry spread. Within that, we have to make sure that we're not overspending and we're getting the biggest bang for our buck that we can. So normally for soybeans we wanted to treat them separately. We don't want to treat them as just another add on crop to corn. So normally in the fall we will go ahead and lay down the fertilizer, we'll put down map with them. We will use sulfur and we will use a little bit of potash, but we want to layer that because in the springtime, we're going to come back in with the potash again and do another layer.
DeAnna:
As you visit with farmers and as you advise them on reaching their full yield potential, what are some of the questions they have for you when they initially start working with you?
Cory:
Biggest one would be about beans, it'd be, can we really plant beans this early? And I would say, absolutely, it's just first thing we got to look at is their soil type, can their soil type handle it? Normally yes. And then the biggest question is just figuring out the correct population for them. That would be the trickiest part if you are going to plant beans early, what can you do?
Cory:
Second biggest question is just fertility. Am I spending too much? Trying to put a big load on corn, but I'm not doing anything on beans. I feel like my bean yields could be better. So at the end of the day we can actually lower the rates of fertilizer for both crops just by treating them separately.
DeAnna:
Cory, when we talk a little bit about treating and we talk about seed treatment, you mentioned waiting. So the timing on seed treatment is critical to reaching that a hundred bushel soybean yield as well. So kind of walk us through the importance of seed treatment in your mind and why you do it the way you do.
Cory:
The importance of seed treatments, we don't have a whole lot of seeds out there. So we're talking about lowering population. Well, that's fine and dandy, but if you're going to lower the population, you better make sure you have a pretty good percentage of them coming up. So I want to protect them as much as I can, so I look at it as a re-investment. So all the money that I just saved from dropping the population, where can I reinvest that? So I'm going to reinvest that money into seed treatments and furrow products to help protect the yield, get it out of the ground. So I look at it more as a whole picture of just not, hey, I'm going to lower the population and hopefully get more yield and then save a bunch of money. I want to reinvest that money in the seed treatments, just keeping that seed protected for a while because we're planting it pretty much a hard condition. It's not going to be warm and ready, so we want to make sure that it has its own protection there.
DeAnna:
When you look at where we're sitting, here it is mid- March, we're getting ready to head into April of 2021. What are you looking at in terms of challenges for the growing season? What are you keeping your eyes on? I know weed management is always in the forefront of a farmer's mind as they do get ready for planting. So kind of walk us through what you're going to be on the lookout for this year and what you're going to do to kind help mitigate some of those weeds like waterhemp and different things like that.
Cory:
Oh right now it's the best time of the year, we're positive.
DeAnna:
Yes.
Cory:
We're not mid-March, we're not delayed planning yet, so we have nothing to complain about here yet. Everything's okay. I mean, this is about the best feeling we're going to have for a while. I think I don't mean that wrong, it's just as farmers, we know where it can go and it can get there pretty fast. So the longer we get and if there's a wet spring, we're going to start getting nervous. And then as soon as we get past a wet spring, we're going to turn our focus over to are we going to have a dry summer? So right now is pretty much the best time of the year, I guess you could say, as far as spirits go.
Cory:
But I would say right now our biggest concerns moving forward is just, we're already dry right now. So we were really dry last year, our water table's already low. We hope it's going to correct itself. We're just afraid it's going to correct itself now when we're trying to get into the field. So we could be fighting another wet and cold spring and if that's the case, that'll be three in a row and it's really getting old. We just would like to have something normal again, but I'd rather find a wet spring that I would a dry summer. So you got to be careful what you ask for.
Cory:
As far as weed control goes, we've already been able to get out there last week to get some spraying done. So we're trying to stay on top of that. Waterhemp, we've actually only had it in one of our fields so far, we've been able to keep control of it pretty well, knock on wood there because we understand how fast that could get out of control. So right now we're sitting pretty good.
DeAnna:
As you look at where you're sitting for 2021, what are you most hopeful about for this growing season?
Cory:
What am I most hopeful for? I'm hopeful for a normal weather pattern. We've really been fighting a lot of stress, more extremes than what we have before, I just would like to, like I just said a little bit ago, just something that resembles normalcy. It's getting old fighting this really cold and wet springs that we've had and then we turn hot and dry in the summer, if we could just get a little bit of consistency that would be great.
DeAnna:
What would you say for farmers listening across the Midwest, what's your advice for them as they really do get ready to gear up for planting season?
Cory:
Well, I know I'm doing a lot of complaining about the weather, but that's the thing, I cannot control it so all I can do is sit back and just complain about it, but everything else that you can control, you better do the best that you can at it. Mother nature is going to give you a new card every single day, can you adjust to that card that was dealt to you and play the best hand? That's the way that I look at it. That's what I try to do.
Cory:
And sometimes you just got to fold. Your best play is just to fold. So don't go out and overspend just to keep a bad year going, sometimes the smartest thing you can do is just pull the plug, walk away. But right now, as we're game planning for plan A, this is one we're the most hopeful, this is when we're most positive. Everything looks the best, but you better have other game plans ready because of the things that we cannot control, like mother nature comes to play. You can't just stand around and go, what do I do now? You got to have a plan in place because timing's everything. So you got to be able to rock and roll.
DeAnna:
All right. Well, I think everybody is ready to rock and roll and there's always that farmer in the community that has to be the first one to plant. So is that you?
Cory:
No, it's not anymore. It used to be. It used to be, but not anymore.
DeAnna:
All right. Very good. Well, Cory, thanks so much for taking the time to visit with us and we wish you all the best and a successful 2021.
Cory:
Thank you. I appreciate it.
Jodi:
Thanks to DeAnna Thomas and her guest, Cory Atley, to the Enlist weed control system for sponsoring the podcast and thank you for listening. For Successful Farming, I’m Jodi Henke.