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Mattoon, Ill., farmer Andy Dole sees a clear return on investment with planting soybeans ahead of corn. He will continue the practice in 2021.

Austin Keating, Associate Editor, Prairie Farmer

December 16, 2020

2 Min Read
Andy Dole
HIGH YIELD: Andy Dole plants soybeans early to start the flowering process before the summer solstice. This ensures a high yield potential. Austin Keating

The 2020 season was the first time in Mattoon, Ill., farmer Andy Dole’s career where he and his father pushed soybean planting ahead of corn in April. Dole says soil temperatures weren’t high enough in April to plant corn, but that seed treatments on soybeans made planting that crop more feasible.

Dole says planting soybeans early has paid off in higher yield.

“Even a seemingly small increase, like one pod per plant, can actually result in massive yield increases across the field,” he says. “Our soybean potential was very high until we suffered floods and then a late-season drought.”

Related: Wet fields even wetter in 2019, 2020

Paul Yoder, Dole’s Pioneer agronomist, says 76% of the time, across all Pioneer’s yield trials since 2013, soybeans that yield 85 to 100-plus bushels per acre were planted between April 16 and April 30.

“You start flowering early,” Yoder says. “Soybeans will abort 75% of their flowers every year. However, if they begin earlier [prior to summer solstice June 20] with the April plant, soybeans will gain around 15 more days of flowering over May plants. Most soybeans have 17 nodes per plant. If you can gain one additional three-bean pod, you will gain an extra 35-plus bushels per acre.”

Knowing this, Dole aims to plant all his soybeans during that early window, just like they were able to do in 2020. Dole says they had a “phenomenal” planting season in 2020, with most of their crop planted within 10 days.

Related: 5 yield lessons from 2020

“Soybeans planted toward the end of May were about 15 bushels off of our average,” Dole says of 2020 results, but cautions that could be due to other differences in management, like fungicide.

Dole says that because planting soybeans early has a clear return on investment, it’s worth it to have two planters: one dedicated for soybeans and the other for corn. However, he’s unsure if new equipment has a clear ROI. He says most of the farm’s equipment came into service after 2012, and “they’re barely getting broke in at this point.”

“John Deere’s ExactEmerge planter was the last implement we purchased that offered some added benefit, but genetics and conditions are the two driving factors in yield,” Dole says, adding he doesn’t see a need to reinvest in newer equipment because it doesn’t drive yield.

Pioneer agronomist Matt Montgomery says because of cool and wet conditions, planting soybeans earlier into March didn’t offer a yield benefit compared to April-planted beans in 2020.

“It just sat there,” Montgomery says. A good seed treatment, however, protected seed that was sitting in the ground awaiting warmer temperatures. “That’s the key to making early-planted soybeans work.”

About the Author(s)

Austin Keating

Associate Editor, Prairie Farmer

Austin Keating is the newest addition to the Farm Progress editorial team working as an associate editor for Prairie Farmer magazine. Austin was born and raised in Mattoon and graduated from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign with a degree in journalism. Following graduation in 2016, he worked as a science writer and videographer for the university’s supercomputing center. In June 2018, Austin obtained a master’s degree from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University, where he was the campus correspondent for Planet Forward and a Comer scholar.

Austin is passionate about distilling agricultural science as a service for readers and creating engaging content for viewers. During his time at UI, he won two best feature story awards from the student organization JAMS — Journalism Advertising and Media Students — as well as a best news story award.

Austin lives in Charleston. He can sometimes be found at his family’s restaurant the Alamo Steakhouse and Saloon in Mattoon, or on the Embarrass River kayaking. Austin is also a 3D printing and modeling hobbyist.

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