By Mike Staton
2016 SMaRT trial harvest in progress.
Michigan soybean producers conduct on-farm research trials as part of the SMaRT program. The 2017 projects have been identified and producers are invited to participate.
The SMaRT program (Soybean Management and Research Technology) provides Michigan soybean producers with a statistically valid method for evaluating the yield and income benefits of new products, equipment and management practices. Our goals are to keep the trials as easy as possible for the cooperators to conduct and yet generate credible and meaningful results that producers can use to increase their profitability.
Producers across Michigan have identified new products and management practices of interest to them and will evaluate the identified projects in field-scale research trials in 2017. The data from these trials will be collected, subjected to statistical scrutiny, summarized across locations and years, and shared with soybean producers in the 2017 SMaRT On-farm Research Report and at educational meetings. The identities of the cooperating farmers are always kept confidential.
The products and production practices we will evaluate in 2017 are listed below.
- Planting rates. This trial will compare four planting rates (80,000; 100,000; 130,000; and 160,000 seeds per acre). This trial may be especially beneficial if conducted in fields having a history of moderate to severe white mold.
- ILeVO seed treatment. This trial will compare a complete seed treatment (one or more fungicides plus an insecticide) selected by the cooperator with and without ILeVO, a fungicide from Bayer Crop Science that targets sudden death syndrome. This trial should be conducted in fields having a history of moderate to severe sudden death syndrome.
- Complete seed treatment. This trial will compare a complete seed treatment (one or more fungicides plus an insecticide) to no seed treatment.
- LiberateCa in-furrow. This trial will compare an in-furrow application of a liquid calcium fertilizer from AgroLiquid to an untreated control.
- Field rolling: This trial will allow cooperators to select the field rolling times they want to compare on their farms (pre-emerge, V1 or V2) to an unrolled control.
- Prescription foliar fertilizer trial. This trial compares field-specific foliar fertilizer mixtures based on composite soil test results to an unfertilized control.
- White mold foliar fungicide comparison. This trial will compare the effects of two white mold fungicides (Omega from Syngenta and Propulse from Bayer Crop Science) to an untreated control. This trial should be conducted in fields having a history of moderate to severe white mold.
- Foliar fungicide and Insecticide tank-mixture. This trial will compare a single application of a foliar fungicide and insecticide tank-mixture selected by the cooperator to an untreated control.
While the SMaRT on-farm trials are designed to improve the profitability of all Michigan soybean producers, the trial cooperators benefit the most from the program. This is because they learn how the products or management practices perform under the specific conditions existing on their farms. Also, in 2017 the cooperating producers will have the opportunity to select the specific products (seed treatments and foliar fungicide/insecticide tank-mixtures) they want to evaluate.