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Talking soybeans at the SouthWest Agricultural Conference

Presentation given by Tristan Mueller

By Diego Flammini
Assistant Editor, North American Content
Farms.com

Finding universal solutions for soybeans can be tricky, according to Tristan Mueller, an operations manager with Iowa Soybean Association’s (ISA) On-Farm Network.

“There’s not a lot of silver bullets with soybeans,” he said during a presentation at the SouthWest Agricultural Conference, adding that many things farmers do with corn can equal quick results.

Mueller’s presentation mainly focused on fungicide applications and spacing trials.

When it comes to fungicides, Mueller said using fungicides in summers with increased rainfall has resulted in positive yield responses.

He said, for example, ISA conducted trials on eight locations in 2015 with the fungicide Priaxor.

“All locations had a positive yield response with an average of 3.0 bushels per acre and 63 per cent of trials had a positive return on investment.”

To help farmers determine if a fungicide application will result in a positive return, Mueller said the ISA developed a fungicide calculator.

Farmers enter the soybean price ($/bu), the direct cost (headline price + application cost at $/acre) and the rainfall between March and May. Then, the calculator will determine variables, including potential yield increase and probability of exceeding direct application costs.

When speaking about spacing, Mueller said trials by Iowa State University found that 15-inch row soybeans had a 3.7 bushel per acre advantage compared to 30-inch rows.

ISA ran its own trials in 2014 and found that 15-inch rows had an average yield boost about of 2.6 bushels per acre.

“When final stands dropped below 100,000 plants/acre, there were larger yield advantages to the narrow row spacing,” Mueller said. “Farmers need to look at the probabilities of having a positive return on investment in deciding to use a product or switch management practices.”

Stay tuned as Farms.com will continue to bring you coverage of the 2017 SouthWest Agricultural Conference.


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