With all the hubbub going on in the state, nation and world — inflation, conflict, COVID-19, supply chain disruptions and commodity market gyrations — farmers may need to reassess their goals and priorities for a profitable year ahead. Sometimes looking back provides some insight as to what works going forward.

Having started and run a soybean yield contest in Michigan for 14 years, from 2006 to 2019, one goal was to always learn what the top-yielding soybean farmers did to help the rest of us increase yields and profits.

In those years, 747 farmers submitted 1,041 entries, from as many as 28 counties in the Lower Peninsula. If they filled in all 35 lines of information on the harvest form, that gave me potentially 36,435 data points. The spreadsheet for 2019 was 33 pages long.

Just taking the last contest year of 2019, the state average yield was 40.5 bushels, while the average yield of all 89 contests entries was 72.67 bushels per acre. The six category yield winners had an average yield of 82.44 bushels per acre, and a yield range of 69.47 bushels for the non-GMO category to a high of 99.11 bushels per acre in the late maturity category.

The highest soybean yield ever recorded in the contest was 124.75 bushels per acre in 2018.  So, what do the top 10 yielding farmers do differently from the bottom 10?

1. Planting date. First (but not in a particular order) is planting date, with the high group planting an average of 15 days earlier than the bottom group.

2. Row spacing. Second is row spacing, with the top group planting more soybeans in 15-inch rows, as compared to soybeans planted in 7-, 7.5-, 22-, 30-inch or other row spacing.

3. Tillage and residue. Third is tillage and residue management with the top group doing more preplant tillage, whereas more of the bottom yields occurred in no-till fields.     

4. Harvest date. The fourth factor influencing yield was harvest date with the top-yielding farmers harvesting soybeans in a timely manner, six days earlier than the lower-yielding group.

5. Water. Next was water, meaning the top group said it got 8 inches more rainfall than the lower-yielding group. This does not include the irrigation water. Field drainage was not one of the questions asked on the harvest form, but getting water on the crop, soil water-holding capacity and getting excess water off the field are all important considerations.

6. Field scouting. Sixth was field scouting as the top group said it was out in its soybean fields looking at plants, roots and soils much more often than the lower-yielding group.

7. SCN management. Seventh was the identification and management of soybean cyst nematodes in the contest field. Several years, one or more of the winning yields were in fields with SCN. Farmers should never lose a minute of sleep knowing they have a field of soybeans with nematodes as there are things they can do to manage this pest.  Amazingly, up to 75% of the lower-yielding entries, the farmers did not know if the field was infested with SCN.

8. Postemergence care. Another thing the top-yielding fields had in common was the application of any needed postemergence foliar products, such as pesticides. Implied in this is being careful with wheel tracks and soil compaction.

9. Soil testing. Ninth on the list was having a current soil test. All the top group said its contest field had a current soil test (which I did not define). MSU suggests testing at least every four years in a two-crop rotation and every three years in a three-crop rotation. Kurt Steinke recommends testing the same time of the year, normally in the fall, so the tests are comparable. 

10. Seed rate. The 10th yield increasing factor was a lower seeding rate. In 2018, for example, the top group planted an average of 149,364 seeds on May 7, as compared to 166,300 seeds per acre on May 25 by the bottom-yielding group. That same year, all the top group used a seed treatment, while 20% of the bottom group did not use anything.

Take-home lessons include that all farmers should be soil testing on a regular basis. In Michigan, a soil test for nematodes is free, paid by the Michigan Soybean Committee. Farmers can scout fields every week, managing for soil compaction, and perhaps reduce their seeding rate by 10% or more. 

With all the stress of the markets and news, 2022 may be a good year to stick with some tried and true agronomic practices, some of which do not cost any money.

Birkey is an MSU Extension educator emeritus and owner of Spartan Ag.