Soybean School: Should you plant more soybeans?

For many years, soybean acreage has elevated in Canada and has been internationally fuelled by rising world demand for the oilseed crop. Soybeans have additionally confirmed to be a good friend to farmers, making a worthwhile contribution to the underside line and including one other cropping choice to diversify and prolong rotations.

However what occurs when farmers plant too many soybeans? On this episode of the Soybean Faculty we sort out this query with assist from Agriculture and Agri-Meals Canada’s (AAFC) Craig Drury.

For the previous 20 years, Drury, a soil administration and soil biochemistry scientist, and his group have been working long-term rotational trials at AAFC’s Harrow Analysis Station in Essex County, Ont. He concedes that soybeans are a tremendously vital money crop, however cautions that farmers want to pay attention to the impacts that rising too many soybeans can have on yield and soil well being.

The crop rotation trial, planted on a Brookston clay loam soil, was designed to guage the affect of crop rotations on yield and soil natural carbon adjustments. It contains 17 crop rotations which might be planted yearly. Within the video, Drury shares soybean yield outcomes from varied rotations, together with steady cropping, 2-year, 3-year, and 4-year outcomes highlighting the affect of rotation variety. (Story continues after the video.)

Total, primarily based on a five-year common, steady soybeans delivered the poorest yield at 41 bu/ac. When wheat was added to create a soybean-soybean-wheat rotation, soybean yield elevated 30 per cent to 53 bu/ac; and jumped 50 per cent to 64 bu/ac in a 3-year corn-soybean-wheat rotation. Drury provides that this more various rotation additionally had big impacts on different crops within the rotation, together with corn, which confirmed a 40 per cent yield enhance over steady corn.

Drury additionally notes the cumulative impact of variety. Over 19 crop years, including corn to the rotation added 194 bushels of soybean manufacturing. When wheat was added because the third crop within the rotation, soybean yield elevated by 285 bushels.

Within the video, Drury seems to be on the affect soybeans have on soil natural carbon ranges and the way various rotations could make soils more resilient and defend crops in opposition to a variety of climate and environmental situations. He additionally feedback on what occurs to soil planted to steady soybeans, together with reductions in natural matter and the affect on nitrogen use effectivity.

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