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Agronomist: early planting trials reveal yield advantage

An agronomist with AgriGold says recent hybrid and variety trials have shown early planting yield advantages.

Ron Roling is based in northeast Iowa. He says the research generally shows that the earlier corn and soybeans are planted, the higher the yield potential.  

“If we can extend the growing season by planting earlier, it’s a huge advantage to corn and soybeans,” he says. “Anything we can do to extend the growing season gives soybeans more time to capture sunlight and allows corn to accumulate more growing degree units. The longer the growing season we can give certainly gives it a higher top-end yield potential.”

Roling says he doesn’t follow a specific calendar date when talking about early planting. Instead, he says it’s more important to understand soil conditions and the genetics of corn hybrids and soybean varieties.

He says there are several things to consider when planting soybeans early.  

“Make sure you’re using a good seed treatment because as you plant earlier, the soil conditions are going to be a little tougher, colder, and potentially allow for more disease,” he says. “Soybeans tend to tolerate early planting better than corn at times and we see really good results with it. One of the things growers worry about, is should they increase soybean population because they’re planting earlier. We’re seeing the opposite (is true). As we use a good, strong seed treatment, we can lower population on productive soils and plant earlier and then we’re getting even better results at the same time.”

He says the ground must also be fit for planting to avoid compaction. He says soil shouldn’t be overly saturated and temperatures should be trending higher.

For corn, Roling says a hybrid’s response to early planting varies.

“The big difference from one hybrid to the next is usually what dictates for me if I recommend planting that hybrid early or not. Most of that is based off how well that plant emerges, how good of early vigor it has, and again maybe seed treatment is part of that as well as long as we’re using higher-loading seed treatment on corn,” he says. “We’ve done a lot of what we call flag testing on different hybrids and other aspects. Maybe we do want to look at how different hybrids emerge in those conditions, but it also gives us some advantages to look at planter settings, for example. The trend for corn is planting earlier, which I think is a great thing. We tend to see higher yields as long as we’re using the right genetics.”

Results from the testing monitoring emergence showed that hybrids with high emergence scores performed well, but those with slower emergence sacrificed some yield with earlier planting.

Overall, Roling says he thinks the trend for farmers to pursue early planting, especially on soybeans, will continue.

For more information visit agrigold.com.

Audio: Ron Roling