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Article: Field Notes.(soybean industry production)(Column)
- Article from:
- Farm Journal
- Article date:
- July 29, 2006
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2006 Farm Journal Media. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Byline: Marion Calmer
With today’s rising technology fees and seed costs, it’s time to take a closer look at planting populations and row width. Research on my farm shows I can gain about $45 per acre with both soybeans and corn by using the best population and row width.
I began studying soybean seeding rates in the late 1980s. For the last five years, I have looked at seeding rates below 100,000 seeds per acre. In 2005, in four research plots, I actually tried planting only 25,000 soybean seeds per acre. Those plots yielded 47 bu. per acre. That was 93% of my maximum yield that year, which came at 125,000 seeds per acre.
In 2004, ...