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Yield advantage in early planting can be a toss up

A soybean researcher says early planting benefits are not always absolute.

Mark Seamon with the Michigan Soybean Committee tells Brownfield on-farm trials continue to find varying yield benefits to early planting.

“It gave us about 1.6 bushels yield benefits and that was interesting because there was a range of yield difference from a negative 6.5 bushels in one case to the most positive benefit with 8.9 bushels per acre,” he shares.

Seamon recommends avoiding fields with a history of soil crusting and using high-quality seed that can handle delayed emergence.

“We want to make sure the germination percentage is very high on these and if we have the opportunity to check things like cold germ or accelerated aging tests—that’s even better,” he says.

He says soybeans are more adaptable to cooler soils than corn and early planting allows farmers to use longer-maturity varieties while improving their planting schedules.