In today’s tough farm economy, every tool is needed to manage uncertainty and stay in business. One new tool, BeanPACK, released Oct. 1 by North Carolina State University, will help state soybean growers pinpoint their best soybean maturity groups and planting dates.

Selecting the right hybrid or variety is the most important decision a farmer makes. It will be extra important in the new crop year ahead that is expected to be as challenging, if not more challenging than this year.

Cotton, corn, peanut, and soybean farmers spend a lot of time researching the right seed to plant. They have to because selecting the wrong variety or hybrid diminishes yield potential and profit.

Soybean growers know selecting the right maturity group and planting date is key to maximizing yields and profit. The free open-source, web-based tool is informed by thousands of data points from North Carolina State University field trials conducted statewide over five years. It will allow the state’s 5,000 soybean growers to pinpoint their region and get site-specific recommendations for planting dates and maturity groups.

N.C. State Extension Soybean Specialist Rachel Vann says this is important in North Carolina where the climate varies and one-size-fits-all recommendations don’t always yield the best results for different locations across the state.

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“There are risks of planting too early in our environment, and there are risks of planting too late, and I think that this tool will help guide growers to make decisions to be in the optimal range – not too early, not too late,” Vann says.

Vann teamed with Cranos Williams, an N.C. State associate professor of electrical and computer engineering and other N.C. State scientists, through the North Carolina Plant Sciences Initiative, to create BeanPACK, which allows growers to get more precise recommendations on core agronomics for their farms. She says BeanPACK empowers farmers with accessible, data-driven recommendations that they can use on their individual farms.

Tarboro farmer John Fleming, who was a beta tester for the tool, says “the tool is loaded with information and will assist growers in reaching the next level on soybean yields.” Beaufort County farmer Forrest Howell says BeanPACK will take “some of the guess work out when it comes to making planting decisions.”

The economic storms facing farmers in the mid-2020s are said to be as challenging if not more challenging than the farm recession of the 1980s. One benefit of farming in the 21^st century is new technology that was unfathomable previously. Farmers will need to turn to this technology all the more in 2025 when profits will be hard to find.

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