(Southeast Farm Press) – North Carolina soybean farmers have yet to officially achieve yields of 100 bushels per acre. Jim Dunphy, Extension soybean specialist at North Carolina State University, is optimistic the state will soon reach that magic number.
“We haven’t documented 100 bushels in North Carolina but soybean producers are working to get there,” Dunphy said. “The North Carolina Soybean Producers Association has an offer out of $2,500 to the first guy who goes over 100 bushels. If he’s a member of the American Soybean Association when he plants the field, they’ll double it to $5,000.”
Dunphy said North Carolina has gotten close to producing 100 bushels per acre. The record was set in 2006 by the McLain Farm (Mike, his brother Phil, and Phil’s son Phillip) in Iredell County which recorded a yield of 92.9 bushels per acre. “Nobody has bested that yet,” Dunphy said.
Using check-off funds from the North Carolina Soybean Producers Association, Dunphy will do a maximum yield study this year where he and Ron Heiniger, professor of crop science and cropping systems specialist at N.C. State, will see how high a dry-land yield they can achieve at various locations across the state. “I don’t know how high a yield we’ll get, but I expect it to be easier to achieve with some varieties than with others,” Dunphy said.
While varietal selection is certainly important to achieve maximum yields, timeliness may actually be a more important factor. For example, Dunphy said it is critical to plant soybeans on time.
“I’d want to plant early enough to be sure I get the middles lapped with 3-feet tall plants, to capture as much sunlight as soybeans know how to capture,” Dunphy explained. “What that date turns out to be depends somewhat on the maturity of the variety used, since later maturing varieties have more days to get that big. I’d a little prefer to see the reproductive growth occur earlier than later, but not at the expense of having too small plants.”
Timeliness and attention to detail are also critical when managing weeds, insects and diseases, Dunphy stressed.
“If you go out on Monday morning and you find you have some little weeds coming up, you’re going to have to spray them this week, not next week. Get them sprayed on time, when they are still little. Don’t wait until Friday to spray; you need to spray on Tuesday or better yet Monday afternoon.”
If the soybean crop doesn’t find enough nutrients left over from the previous crop, be it corn, cotton or wheat, farmers should add phosphorous and potash directly to the soybeans to achieve top yields, Dunphy said.
”Very high yielding soybeans will require more fertility than average-yielding soybeans. That may or not be the key to getting the big yields, but if I don’t have a high enough fertility level, I certainly won’t achieve top yields.”
“Achieving 60 bushel yields takes about 48 pounds of phosphorous per acre, while achieving 100 bushel yields takes about 82 pounds of phosphorous,” Dunphy said.
Farmers who grow soybeans in the livestock producing counties, where they apply manure to the fields, may not need as much phosphorous, but they likely will need to add more potash if they wish to achieve maximum yields, according to Dunphy.
“This is particularly true in the Coastal Plains where the soils don’t hold their nutrients as well,” Dunphy said. “To achieve 100 bushel yields, I need about 135 pounds of potash.”
As for minor nutrients, such as zinc, boron and manganese, Dunphy said soil test recommendations are probably the best guide. “You’ll probably need a little more than the soil test is actually recommending to achieve maximum yields,” Dunphy said.
Through it all, Dunphy said farmers must continually ask the question, “How do I make more money?”
“Only three things are going to contribute to profit,” he said. “The yield, the price of soybeans and the cost of production. Yields by far are the most important key to making more money.”
As an individual, a farmer can’t do much about prices, Dunphy said.
“He can influence when he sells them and at what price he sells them, In a typical marketing year, the price of soybeans will vary by at least $2 per bushel, and maybe $3. He can take advantage of that $2 to $3 gain, but he can’t determine if prices range from $13 to $16 or $9 to $12,” he said.
As for lowering production costs, Dunphy said that is easier said than done.
“In practice, a farmer can’t do a lot more about lowering costs. He’s already gotten rid of all the unnecessary costs and has kept all the costs that will make him money. All the costs he has left are costs he needs,” he said.
“You can’t do much about price and you can’t do much about costs, but you can influence yields,” he said.
Dunphy believes North Carolina will reach the 100 bushel mark, and if farmers focus on achieving top yields, they can get close to the goal. “We’ll get there. Somebody will do it. We’ve probably already been there, but somebody just hasn’t documented it,” Dunphy said.
In the meantime, Charles Hall, chief executive officer of the North Carolina Soybean Producers Association, said there is a lot of farmer interest in the 100 bushel soybean contest this year. “It’s a good way for growers to find out what can be achieved,” Hall said.
Like Dunphy, Hall is optimistic North Carolina will soon hit the 100 bushel per acre mark. And like Dunphy, he believes some farmers in the state may have already unofficially made 100 bushels per acre.
“We know it’s coming. They’ve done it in Georgia and they’ve done it in the Delta. Anecdotally, someone probably already has measured 100 bushels per acre on their yield monitor, they just haven’t reported it.”
