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Michigan soybean field day highlights checkoff research

A soybean specialist says close management of weeds is needed in areas of the Eastern Corn Belt struggling with drought conditions.

Mark Seamon with the Michigan Soybean Promotion Committee tells Brownfield second applications of herbicides were needed this season in dry areas as weed pressures have been more prevalent and the lack of moisture after planting didn’t active first applications of herbicides.  “A lot of those post applications have controlled weeds.”  He says, “There still have been some tougher to control weeds because they’re really just slow growing and tough to control when you have the drought conditions.”

He says if farmers decided to lower plant populations to cut costs, fields that have received rain are doing well, but dry conditions have made it a challenge.  “We’ve had slow growing soybeans, so in those low populations we need to make sure we manage those correctly because if we don’t have conditions for lots of growth, we have reduced canopy and can have concerns with things like weeds coming through that canopy or just not using the sunlight that’s available on that field.”

Seamon says a soybean agronomy field day has been planned for July 27^th in Coldwater, near the Indiana/Ohio border, to discuss current checkoff research on these and other agronomic issues including Soybean Cyst Nematodes and herbicide resistance.

AUDIO: Interview with Mark Seamon