Farmers Can Win Prizes, Contribute to Researchers’ Knowledge Through Soybean Yield Contest
Farmers Can Win Prizes, Contribute to Researchers’ Knowledge Through Soybean Yield Contest
5/30/08
Contact: Laura Probyn
517-432-1555, ext. 171
or
Mike Staton
269-657-8213
EAST LANSING, Mich. -- Farmers who enter the 2008 Michigan Soybean Yield Contest have the chance not only to win prizes but also to contribute to researchers’ understanding of management practices that can be used in future growing seasons.
“The goal of the contest is to demonstrate the role that management plays in achieving high soybean yields,” says Mike Staton, Michigan State University (MSU) Extension educator and Soybean 2010 coordinator. “It also provides us with a method for gathering and evaluating the specific management practices the participants use.”
Collective data on planting, pest and crop management, and harvests will be researched, summarized and shared with soybean growers to help increase yields and profitability. No individual farm information will be released.
“Information provided by the 2007 contestants helped show which of the latest crop management practices were proven to achieve higher yields,” Staton says. “We learned that in 2007, factors such as early planting, row spacing, plant population and seed inoculation contributed to higher yields.” In 2007, the highest yields were attained by planting in 15-inch rows during the first week of May and inoculating the seed. Tillage and harvest date had no impact on contest yields in 2007.
Staton says that the 2007 data also showed room for improvement in soybean cyst nematode (SCN) sampling. SCN sampling is a critical first step to reducing yield losses from the most damaging soybean pest in the United States.
The average soybean yield of all 2007 contestants was nearly 18 bushels per acre higher than Michigan’s 2007 average of 39 bushels per acre, and the winning entry’s yield was 69.2 bushels per acre.
The five entry classes are based on three soybean maturity groups and include irrigated and non-irrigated classes for groups II and III soybeans. There is a limit of two entries per farm, and entered fields must be 5 acres or larger.
Each class winner will be recognized at the 2008 Michigan Soybean Association annual meeting and awarded a trophy and up to $1,000 in reimbursement for travel expenses to the 2009 Commodity Classic in Dallas, Texas, in late February.
The entry form and $25 entry fee are due Aug. 1. Every farmer who completes the contest will receive a $50 certificate for soy biodiesel fuel and a yield contest hat. A promotional flier complete with entry information is available online at http://web1.msue.msu.edu/soybean2010/ or by phone at 269-657-8213.
For more information about improving Michigan’s soybean crop, visit the Soybean 2010 Web page at http://web1.msue.msu.edu/soybean2010/. Soybean 2010 was developed to help Michigan growers increase soybean yields and farm profitability by 2010. Funding is provided by MSU Extension; Project GREEEN (Generating Research and Extension to meet Economic and Environmental Needs), the plant industry initiative at MSU; and the Michigan Soybean Promotion Committee.
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