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DeKalb, IL | All in all, you've got a nicely-done study here. I don't know how much yield difference you might have been anticipating, but the 10% difference between highest and lowest yields is right about what I would have guessed. That soybean plant is amazingly capable of adapting to its microenvironment, so yields don't ever seem to change as much as one might expect.
As to your third paragraph...you're exactly right: economics comes first, yield comes lower on the list (unless you're in a yield contest). In a previous lifetime, I used to surprise a lot of growers, who were planting upwards of 225,000 beans per acre, when I suggested moving down 30 to 35% in the seeding rate. When I got some push-back, I told them I'd rather they stay profitably in business and give us a chance again next year. | |
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soy bean population plot
