Happy New Year!!!!
Updated Nebraska Cow Herd System Budgets Available Now
Glennis McClure, Extension Educator and Farm and Ranch Management Analyst
Practices, conditions, and prices change. Therefore, enterprise budgets must be updated at least annually. Several of the geographically representative Nebraska cow herd budgets produced by the University of Nebraska-Lincoln were updated over the past several months. Primarily, feed and cattle prices were updated, with three additional budgets completed. A blank cow herd system budget template and ten Nebraska cow herd budget examples are provided on the Center for Agricultural Profitability’s website, at cap.unl.edu/cattlebudgets.
The cow herd budgets represent various management practices, such as growing replacement heifers or purchasing bred cows, selling calves at weaning, backgrounding, or conditioning calves to add extra weight before selling. These budgets are prepared to serve as enterprise budget guides for producers and ag managers to utilize in creating their own.
The background stories are provided for each of the budgets to assist producers in understanding more about the values in the budgets and as a guide in determining their own cost of production and cow costs. Producers can modify the example budgets using the Excel template to estimate their projected economic costs and net returns for a production season.
The updated cow-calf budgets include a 300- and 600-cow herd representing central Nebraska, two northeast Nebraska cow herd budgets, two from the Nebraska panhandle area, two representing typical herd sizes in southeast Nebraska, one 150-cow herd showing production practices typical for south-central, and another 300-cow herd from southwest Nebraska.
With a wide range of production and management practices throughout Nebraska for cow-calf enterprises reflected in the representative budgets, total annual economic costs per cow range from $1,125 for the south-central Nebraska 150-head cow herd to $1,476 per cow for a 200-head cow herd in northeast Nebraska. Annual breeding costs calculated and shown in the “Breeding Herd Cash Budget” worksheet of the budget file varied considerably depending upon whether replacement heifers were assumed to be purchased or raised.
Updated prices as of mid-year 2021 were included in the budgets. These figures can vary widely from time to time. It is best for those using the budgets to enter current prices for the cattle, feed, and other inputs to have a better understanding of their current cost and return position.
In the representative budgets, pasture and corn stalk rent expenses are included as cash costs in each budget. Cattle producers often own at least a portion of their hay and pasture ground and raise their own crops for feed and their cattle utilize their crop residue, e.g., corn stalks. Raised feed, hay, and owned pasture ground could be treated as separate enterprises from the cow herd. Therefore, a fair market or opportunity value is placed on them in the cow-calf budgets so we can more clearly understand the cattle enterprise costs.
Accurate production, feed, and financial records are foundational to the budgeting process. With the livestock budget template, cost and returns for the whole cow-calf operation can be analyzed. In addition to the breeding herd enterprise, the template contains budget sheets to analyze calves that are retained past weaning. These include the enterprise of wintering or conditioning calves, grazing stockers, and feedlot placements.
Nebraska Women in Agriculture Conference to return to Kearney
The 37th annual Nebraska Women in Agriculture Conference will be held Feb. 24 and 25 at the Holiday Inn Convention Center, 110 Second Ave., in Kearney.
The two-day conference will feature over 20 workshop sessions where attendees will learn how to better manage risk, improve their farms and ranches and become more successful operators and business partners. Three keynote speakers will address the conference over both days.
Katie Dilse, a North Dakota farmer and national speaker, will open the conference with a keynote on the importance of work that women in agriculture do every day. Dilse was named one of the Top 40 under 40 by Business Watch magazine for her professional development, community contributions and influential voice.
Carey Portell, an author and cattle farmer located in mid-Missouri who will close the first day, will speak about how she has overcome barriers after a fatal drunk-driving crash and is now thriving with disabilities.
Maggie Holub, a Nebraska crop farmer, will speak on Feb. 25, telling her story of returning to the farm after her father passed away. She will discuss balancing the farm, fitness and a full-time career with Farm Credit Services of America.
“We are excited to be hosting the conference in person this year,” said Jessica Groskopf, director of the Nebraska Women in Agriculture program. “While we are thankful that we could meet online last year, it just can’t replace the face-to-face interaction that makes this conference so great.”
Registration for the conference will open on Jan. 4, on the Nebraska Women in Agriculture website, wia.unl.edu. The cost to attend is $150 for participants who register on or before Feb. 9. Registration increases to $175 on Feb. 10. Scholarships are available for students, and more information about applying can be found on wia.unl.edu.
Since 1985, Nebraska Extension’s Women in Agriculture program has sought to provide educational opportunities for all Nebraska women interested in developing agricultural management skills, through unbiased, research-based education. The program provides leadership, learning experiences, support and networking avenues to empower women to compete and survive in this challenging and complex industry.
Saunder County Livestock Banquet
The Saunders County Livestock Association Annual Meeting & Banquet is set for Monday Jan. 31 2022, at the Starlite Event Center just west of Wahoo. Social Hour 5:30, Dinner 6:30. Tickets are $30, advance only, none will be sold at the door. For tickets contact Dan @ 402-480-8778 or any SCLA Director.
Public Health and Water Quality Webinar Series Offered in January, February 2022
Have you ever wondered if the water you are drinking is safe? Who studies the impacts of contaminates on my health? These are questions commonly asked throughout the state, especially when there are stories continually discussing contaminates in the water we drink.
The “Public Health and Water Quality Webinar Series” provides an opportunity to learn how water contamination occurs, and how health impacts are determined. The last part of the series goes into more discuss about atrazine and nitrate contaminates and impact on human health. This webinar series concludes on how these big issues are being addressed by multiple government agencies and partners throughout the state and the nation.
This FREE series will be offered in January and February with the live presentation occurring from 11 a.m.-noon CST, with the opportunity to view the recording up to 14 days following the live presentation.
2022 Series Schedule
Monday, Jan. 10: What is Public Health and How It Impacts Me? — Dr. Jesse Bell, UNMC
Monday, Jan. 17: How Does Water Become Contaminated? — Becky Schuerman, extension educator
Monday, Jan. 24: Impacts of Atrazine
Monday, Jan. 31: Impacts of Nitrate+ — Dr. Martha Rhodes, UNL
Monday, Feb. 7: Responses to Water Quality Issues
Participants can register in one or all five presentations at http://go.unl.edu/health-water. Recordings of the webinar will be available up to 14 days following the presentation to allow flexibility in scheduling.
Questions regarding the webinar series can be directed to Amy Timmerman at the Holt County Extension Office, 402-336-2760.
FORAGE OUTLOOK
– Daren Redfearn, NE Extension
Looking back at last year’s forage management and production can help us learn what to improve to make it better this year. Stick around and I'll give you some ideas to consider.
Some of you may have planted a winter annual forage to graze this spring. If so, manage grazing so there is not the temptation to begin grazing perennial grass pastures too early this spring. This will help give them some additional rest and early forage production. You might also consider frost-seeding legumes, such as red clover, in February through mid-March to boost the yield and improve the quality without adding additional nitrogen fertilizer.
When did your pastures run out? Was it mid-summer? late-summer? or fall? Remember that you have plenty of annual forage options to fill any gaps –there are few common ones that can be very productive. Forages like sudangrass and pearl millet can be planted from June until September and used to fill summer and fall forage gaps. Oats and turnip mixtures can be planted as early as mid-August and used to fill late-fall forage gaps.
Plant and use these annual forages when your other pastures have slow growth and are stressed so you have plenty of grazing for your cattle. Your regular pastures will bounce back quicker as well.
Several of you may have taken an extra cutting of alfalfa late in the fall because of excellent September and October growth. That hay was high quality, so it should be sold for a premium price or used for special feeding situations. This coming spring, though, it may start to grow a little slower. If so, let it begin to bloom before cutting.
We all can do better this year than we did last year. One of the best ways to accomplish this is to look back to learn what we hope to do better in the future. Have a Happy New Year!
NEBRASKA CROP PROGRESS AND CONDITION
For the week ending January 2, 2022, topsoil moisture supplies rated 21% very short, 47% short, 31% adequate, and 1% surplus, according to the USDA's National Agricultural Statistics Service. Subsoil moisture supplies rated 19% very short, 49% short, 32% adequate, and 0% surplus.
Field Crops Report:
Winter wheat condition rated 8% very poor, 11% poor, 42% fair, 37% good, and 2% excellent.
The next report will be issued January 24, 2022.
NCGA Announces 2022 Action Teams
The National Corn Growers Association announced the slate of new and returning farmer leaders who will serve as members of its action teams and committees, which began on January 1, 2022. These volunteer farmers will actively shape the future of their industry by guiding programs and carrying out the policies and priorities that drive the association.
Leadership for NCGA’s seven major teams in 2022 will be:
Ethanol Action Team: JR Roesner, chair; Kelly Nieuwenhuis (Iowa), vice chair; Ken Hartman, board liaison.
Market Development Action Team: Troy Schneider, chair; Denny Vennekotter, vice chair; Brian Thalmann, board liaison.
Member and Consumer Engagement Action Team: Lowell Neitzel, chair; Dan Nerud (Nebraska), vice chair; Jed Bower, board liaison.
Production Technology Access Action Team: Kate Danner, chair; Patty Mann, vice chair; Mike Lefever, board liaison.
Risk Management & Transportation Action Team: Bill Leigh, chair; Richard Preston, vice chair; Kelly Harsh, board liaison.
Stewardship Action Team: Andy Jobman (Nebraska), chair; Bryan Biegler, vice chair; Deb Gangwish (Nebraska), board liaison.
Sustainable Ag Research Action Team: Jason Lewis, chair; Dana Allen-Tully, vice chair; Gary Porter, board liaison.
Click here https://dt176nijwh14e.cloudfront.net/file/479 for a full list of teams and members. The action teams and committees will have their first meetings in St. Louis this month.
Agriculture Department and Justice Department Issue Shared Principles and Commitments to Protect Against Unfair and Anticompetitive Practices
Speaking at a White House event focused on competition in agriculture, Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack and Attorney General Merrick B. Garland expressed their shared commitment to effectively enforcing federal competition laws that protect farmers, ranchers, and other agricultural producers and growers from unfair and anticompetitive practices, including the antitrust laws and the Packers and Stockyards Act. The Department of Agriculture (USDA) and Department of Justice are already working together to support their respective enforcement efforts under these laws. As one step in that continuing process, today they released the following statement of principles and commitments:
- Farmers, ranchers, and other producers and growers deserve the benefits of free and fair competition. The Justice Department and USDA therefore are prioritizing matters impacting competition in agriculture.
- The agencies will jointly develop within 30 days a centralized, accessible process for farmers, ranchers, and other producers and growers to submit complaints about potential violations of the antitrust laws and the Packers and Stockyards Act. The agencies will protect the confidentiality of the complainants if they so request to the fullest extent possible under the law and also commit to supporting relevant whistleblower protections, including newly-applicable protections for criminal antitrust complainants against unlawful retaliation.
- The agencies will work together to promote effective information sharing and case cooperation, including processes the agencies will follow to efficiently address a complaint.
- Both agencies commit to vigorously enforce the laws that protect farmers, ranchers, and other producers and growers from unfair, deceptive, discriminatory, and anticompetitive practices. As appropriate, USDA will make reports or refer potential violations of the Packers and Stockyards Act to the Justice Department to better enable its Antitrust Division to pursue meritorious competition-related cases and to allow the agencies to collaborate on issues of mutual interest. Additionally, The Justice Department and USDA will work together to identify and highlight areas where Congress can help modernize these toolkits.
“Producers all across the country for too long have faced a marketplace that benefits a few large companies over those who are growing our food,” said Secretary of Agriculture Vilsack. “This means that consumers are paying more and farmers, ranchers and producers see less of the profits. The pandemic only further disrupted these challenges across the supply chain, exposing a food system that was rigid, consolidated, and fragile. Antitrust and market regulatory enforcement is essential to enabling the competition necessary to transform our concentrated supply chains in favor of diversified, resilient food systems. These are complex, difficult areas of law, and our authorities are 100 years old or more, but I'm heartened by reaffirming our shared commitment to tackle these challenges together.”
“The Justice Department takes very seriously the responsibility we share with our partners across the federal government to protect consumers, safeguard competition, and ensure economic opportunity and fairness for all,” said Attorney General Garland. “Over the past ten months, we have stepped up our efforts to ensure competition and counter anticompetitive practices across sectors – from airlines to insurance brokers to book publishers. And we will continue to vigorously enforce our antitrust laws, no matter the industry, no matter the company, and no matter the individual.”
Statement by Mark McHargue, NE Farm Bureau President, Regarding President Biden’s Action Plan for a More Fair, Competitive, Meat and Poultry Supply Chain
“Increasing our nation’s meat processing capacity has been a Nebraska Farm Bureau (NEFB) priority for the past several years, and we appreciate the Biden administration providing needed funding for those looking to enter this highly concentrated and competitive market and for those who are looking to become a federally inspected facility. We also appreciate the administration providing necessary funding to cover holiday and overtime costs for very small and small meat, poultry, and egg processing facilities who have seen demand skyrocket since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.”
“Combined, these actions will hopefully allow additional players to enter into the meat processing arena, provide expanded markets for livestock producers and more options for consumers. At the same time, NEFB will continue to monitor the marketing regulations also discussed in today’s announcement. While strengthening the ‘Product of the USA’ label and an endorsement of Sen. Deb Fischer’s efforts to provide more price discovery to the cattle marketplace are steps in the right direction, we continue to be concerned that other potential USDA regulations could be issued that would limit a livestock producer’s ability to enter into marketing contracts.”
“As the Biden administration moves forward with new regulations, they must ensure that existing laws are being followed while allowing the free-market system to work.”
IFBF Pres Johnson meets with Biden, Garland and Vilsack to discuss meat processing and marketing challenges
Today, Iowa Farm Bureau President Brent Johnson met with President Joe Biden, U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and Attorney General Merrick Garland to discuss the administration’s pursuit of a competitive and transparent livestock marketing system.
While consumers have seen the price of meat skyrocket during the pandemic, livestock producers have seen reduced profits with limited market access and opportunities. The Biden administration has recognized a lack of competition in the meat processing industry is hurting farmers, consumers, and our economy, and has promised action to work toward a more functional and transparent meat processing sector.
“The system that exists today is broken and especially harmful to small and medium-sized producers,” Johnson said. “We are grateful for the administration’s attention to this issue that impacts not only farmers’ profitability and rural vitality, but also affects consumers at the grocery store. We must work toward a more stable, resilient food supply chain that can better endure unforeseen challenges and ensure farmers are paid an honest price for their product.”
Johnson shared perspectives from Iowa agriculture directly with the President, noting the impacts a lack of competition has had on farm families. Johnson also encouraged President Biden to work with Senator Grassley and Representatives Feenstra and Axne to help pass the bipartisan proposal to make cattle markets more competitive and transparent. “Farmers don’t want special treatment, but we do need the ability to compete and have a level playing field,” Johnson said.
Farmers and Families Deserve Fair Meat Prices
American Farm Bureau Federation President Zippy Duvall commented today on the “Biden-Harris Administration’s Action Plan for a Fairer, More Competitive, and More Resilient Meat and Poultry Supply Chain.”
“AFBF appreciates the Biden administration’s continued work to ensure a fair and competitive meat processing system. We must get to the bottom of why farmers and ranchers continue to receive low payments while families across America endure rising meat prices.
“Farmers and ranchers want a fair shake. The joint initiative between USDA and the Department of Justice to create an online portal to report competition law violations, and efforts to strengthen the Packers & Stockyards Act, will go a long way to ensuring fairness in the industry. More accurately defining ‘Product of the USA’ labeling will also allow families to make more well-informed decisions at the grocery store.
“We are encouraged by the administration’s willingness to work with lawmakers on both sides of the aisle to improve price discovery in the cattle markets. We urge bipartisanship throughout this process. Securing fair prices for farmers and for families is a goal that transcends party lines.”
NAMI: Government Intervention in Markets Will Not Help Consumers, Producers
The North American Meat Institute, the nation’s trade association for meat and poultry packers and processors of all sizes, today released the following statement regarding the “The Biden-Harris Action Plan for a Fairer, More Competitive, and More Resilient Meat and Poultry Supply Chain.”
“For the third time in six months, President Joe Biden and his Administration announced the same plans to spend $1 billion to fund government intervention in the market in an attempt to increase prices livestock producers receive while blaming inflation on private industry,” said Julie Anna Potts, President and CEO of the North American Meat Institute. “The Biden Administration continues to ignore the number one challenge to meat and poultry production: labor shortages. This tired approach is not surprising because they have refused to engage with the packing and processing sector they attack, going so far as to hold a roundtable on meat packing without a single beef or pork packer present.
“Press conferences and using taxpayer dollars to establish government-sponsored packing and processing plants will not do anything to address the lack of labor at meat and poultry plants and spiking inflation across the economy,” said Potts. “The Administration wants the American people to believe that the meat and poultry industry is unique and not experiencing the same problems causing inflation across the economy, like increased input costs, increased energy costs, labor shortages and transportation challenges. Consumers know better.”
“As economists predicted, producers are seeing higher prices for their cattle because packers have processed the backlog of animals in the system.”
The Biden Administration has claimed industry structure is keeping down prices cattle producers receive for their animals, conveniently ignoring the fact the beef industry has changed little for almost 30 years. Prices reflect supply and demand in a healthy market.
On December 26, 2021, Larry Summers, Secretary of the Treasury for President Clinton, the Director of the National Economic Council for President Obama and Charles W. Eliot Professor and President Emeritus at Harvard University took to Twitter agreeing with leading agricultural economists highly critical of the Biden Administration’s analysis. He tweeted:
“The emerging claim that antitrust can combat inflation reflects ‘science denial’. There are many areas like transitory inflation where serious economists differ. Antitrust as an anti-inflation strategy is not one of them.”
Summers also said on Twitter, “Monopoly may lead to high prices but there is no reason to expect it to lead to rising prices unless it is increasing. There is no basis whatsoever thinking that monopoly power has increased during the past year in which inflation has greatly accelerated.
“Rising demand, with capacity and labor constraints, are fully sufficient to account for what we observe in meat packing -- Administration claims notwithstanding,” tweeted Summers.
“Breaking up meatpacking would in the short run lead to reduced supply which would further increases prices. In general, when government goes to war with industries it discourages investment and subsequent capacity.”
The chart below shows that since 1994, profit margins have varied between all sectors of the fed cattle market with no one sector benefiting consistently at the expense of another.
And, according to USDA Data, fed cattle prices are rising on their own, without government intervention. Fourth quarter 2021 fed cattle prices are the highest in five years (even as wholesale beef prices have followed seasonal demand and decreased steadily since Labor Day, the end of the traditional annual high demand period).
Today’s “new” announcement raises several questions that need to be answered, including:
How much extra packing plant capacity does the administration think is needed?
How high should cattle prices be right now?
How long will the government sponsored processors receive government money?
How much will the government sponsored processors be required to pay employees?
There are many small and medium sized packers in the market today that have never received government support – how will they be affected by the influx of government-sponsored competition?
When will these new plants come on-line? 2024-2025? What impact will that have now?
Where are the target areas these plants are needed?
Will the new plants have sufficient labor?
Ranch Group Recognizes Progress but Skeptical of White House Action Plan
Today, the Biden-Harris Administration announced an “Action Plan for a Fairer, More Competitive, and More Resilient Meat and Poultry Supply Chain.” The plan includes massive amounts of government funding intended to slowly rebuild the now dismantled competitive marketing channels for cattle and beef, which has created what the administration calls a “bottleneck” in the nation’s food supply chain.
R-CALF USA CEO Bill Bullard said the funding announced in the plan should help increase both the number of marketing channels for America’s cattle farmers and ranchers as well as distribution channels for America’s consumers.
“We recognize that this level of government involvement is unprecedented, and that it’s critical for reversing the decades of inattention, neglect and denial that facilitated the elimination of competition in our U.S. cattle industry,” he said.
But Bullard said his group remains skeptical about the plan’s strategy for addressing decades of nonenforcement of U.S. antitrust laws and the 100-year-old Packers and Stockyards Act.
He said his organization waited for years and by 2019 it was clear the government was disinclined to protect the cattle industry from alleged packer buying practices that R-CALF USA alleged were harming America’s cattle producers in the group’s private antitrust lawsuit filed against the largest packers in April of that year.
“Our nation’s cattle industry is in a serious crisis and while we appreciate the Administration’s plans to write rules with which to implement portions of the Packers and Stockyards Act, correct the exploitive “Product of USA” beef label, and increase market transparency by requiring more information, as well as its attempt to identify any new, potential violations of competition laws, the fact remains that the Administration has not announced that it will take decisive enforcement action to protect America’s cattle producers from the harms they’ve been experiencing for the past seven years, and we remain disappointed with that omission,” Bullard concluded.
USDA Grain Crushings and Co-Products Production
Total corn consumed for alcohol and other uses was 521 million bushels in November 2021. Total corn consumption was up slightly from October 2021 and up 8 percent from November 2020. November 2021 usage included 92.2 percent for alcohol and 7.8 percent for other purposes. Corn consumed for beverage alcohol totaled 4.79 million bushels, up 25 percent from October 2021 and up 21 percent from November 2020. Corn for fuel alcohol, at 469 million bushels, was up less than 1 percent from October 2021 and up 9 percent from November 2020. Corn consumed in November 2021 for dry milling fuel production and wet milling fuel production was 92.0 percent and 8.0 percent, respectively.
Dry mill co-product production of distillers dried grains with solubles (DDGS) was 2.00 million tons during November 2021, up 2 percent from October 2021 and up 11 percent from November 2020. Distillers wet grains (DWG) 65 percent or more moisture was 1.33 million tons in November 2021, up 2 percent from October 2021 and up 20 percent from November 2020.
Wet mill corn gluten feed production was 278,434 tons during November 2021, down 7 percent from October 2021 and down 6 percent from November 2020. Wet corn gluten feed 40 to 60 percent moisture was 211,260 tons in November 2021, down 1 percent from October 2021 but up 5 percent from November 2020.
USDA Soybean Crushings, Production, Consumption and Stocks
Soybeans crushed for crude oil was 5.71 million tons (190 million bushels) in November 2021, compared with 5.91 million tons (197 million bushels) in October 2021 and 5.73 million tons (191 million bushels) in November 2020. Crude oil produced was 2.25 billion pounds down 4 percent from October 2021 but up 2 percent from November 2020. Soybean once refined oil production at 1.66 billion pounds during November 2021 decreased 4 percent from October 2021 but increased 5 percent from November 2020.
Pricing Calves
Matthew Diersen, SDSU Risk & Business Management Specialist
During December of 2020 the price for 500-600 pound steers in South Dakota briefly averaged above $190 per cwt for a couple of weeks, a level last observed in early 2016. The value of calves depends on the expectations for their ultimate value as finished animals. Thus, the price of calves expected in 2022 depends on where the trade thinks the price of fed cattle will be in mid-2023. The LMIC projections have the price of fed cattle higher in 2022 than in 2021 with a further increase expected in 2023. That bodes well for calf price expectations and the LMIC projections are for higher calf prices in 2022, but prices can still fluctuate.
There are several ways to transfer the risk of changing prices partially or fully to other market participants prior to the typical time of year when calves are sold (often November in the northern plains). A common way to transfer some risk is to use forward contracts – selling calves for delivery at a later time. Those are uncommon until late spring and early summer. Until then, the futures and options markets are more likely choices. Livestock Risk Protection (LRP), price insurance, is another choice.
There is no futures contract on calves, so the feeder cattle contracts are used with adjustments for basis or the price differential expected on calves versus heavier feeder cattle. The basis on calves followed a seasonal pattern in 2021, with the cash price for calves in South Dakota trading at a premium to the nearby feeder cattle futures price. The basis was at its widest level of $36.83 per cwt in March and at its narrowest level of $18.04 per cwt in November. Basis tends to be strong in South Dakota, reflecting its strategic location between cow-calf production and corn production regions. Basis is also tricky – it can follow averages like those for fed and feeder cattle. However, basis for calves also reflects the values of feedstuff like corn and hay that are needed to grow the calves to feeder weights. The current LMIC price projections for corn and hay are lower in 2022/23 than in 2021/22. That would imply a wider basis could be expected in November of 2022 on calves than was observed in November of 2021.
Currently there are futures listed through November of 2022, but the trading volume and open interest is low relative to the nearby contracts. Options are also trading through November, but most of the strike prices for that month have open interest in the single digits. An option pricing calculator would be helpful to come up with a fair bid price, to be used with a limit order, if a floor price is desired using options. Currently there are LRP quotes out through the end of October of 2021. LRP was modified to include coverage for unborn calves, which may make it more useful for producers. Note that the regular futures and options contracts cover 50,000 pounds or 90-100 head of calves. LRP is purchased on a per-head basis, so it can be a cost-effective choice.
How Variable Rate Seeding Can Impact Yield
Soybean seeding rate and its relationship with yield has been intensely studied in major soybean-producing regions throughout the U.S. That’s because with the rapid adoption of geo-spatial tools, such as yield maps and variable rate planter drives, growers are now better able to manage their annual seed investment by adjusting seeding rates based upon the productivity of the environment and underlying factors.
Increasing soybean seeding rates can increase plant height and the height of the lowest pods, which can increase yield. However, soybean growers should approach variable rate seeding (VRS) circumspectly, having clear justifications for increasing or decreasing seeding rates in management zones within variable fields.
“Soybeans are a very flexible crop,” said Ryan Van Roekel, Ph.D., Pioneer Field Agronomist. “Variable rate seeding soybeans can really help fill in the gaps in your soybean fields, much more so than corn.”
Van Roekel advises growers to establish a seeding rate that works across their farming operation based upon experience and regional recommendations to maximize yield potential and agronomic benefits, such as stand establishment, weed control, and disease management. However, he also says that growers should follow the trend of increasing seeding rates in areas of lower productivity and decreasing seeding rates in areas of higher productivity.
Pioneer sales representatives have the necessary platform, agronomic science, and technology to develop successful soybean VRS prescriptions that consider genetic, environment, and other management components.
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