Planting 2023 is nearing the finish line across Iowa, Illinois, Missouri and Tennessee. Considering a large portion of the soybean crop saw an early start, one agronomic expert says the stage is set for big soybean yields this year.
For farmers in Illinois, it’s been a rapid planting pace, after a cool start to the season. Rob DeFauw, who farms near Geneseo, Ill., says planting started for them in late April.
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“The weather was fit and ground was fit, so when that’s ready to go, you better be ready to go too and put it in the ground,” DeFauw says.
According to the USDA-NASS weekly Crop Progress report, 91% of the corn is planted across Illinois, which is 16 points ahead of average the same time last year.
As far as soybeans, 85% of the crop is planted, 27 points above average and 26 points quicker than last year’s pace.
“We did plant soybeans first, but just a few short days later, when the soil temps started rising, we got both planters rolling and had soybeans and corn going in at the same time,” DeFauw says.
Their start date for soybeans was toward the end of April, which was considerably sooner than when they typically start planting soybeans on their farm. In the past, he says they’ve never started planting soybeans until after Mother’s Day.
“Everybody’s trying to push the envelope a little earlier. I guess beans are a little more forgiving than corn,” he says.
The trend is one Ken Ferrie, Farm Journal field agronomist, has been watching for several years. He says the trend is now growing in popularity.
“The early planting of beans is something that’s really kind of evolved over the past five years or so, but due to the drier conditions, we’ve been able to get in just about anywhere in the state. I think we’re probably crashing records on the amount of beans we were able to stick in early.”
It was getting dry until two weeks ago. Ferrie says some farmers were holding off to plant until they had rain. But with the majority of the soybeans seeing an early planting this year, Ferrie is optimistic about yield potential this year.
“Even our fullest season beans are going to be able to flower pre-solstice for us,” Ferrie says. “A lot of our beans last year didn’t come up until May 9 or May 10. Even though they were planted early, they didn’t get out of the ground, and we missed some of that early flowering window. I think the potential for our soybean crop here in Illinois is really looking good since we have this many acres planted early.”
Bigger Bushels By the Data
What exactly does that mean in terms of yield? Ferrie says their data is promising.
“In our trials, as we look at early planting, you get more nodes, of course, going before the solstice, but if you get flowering ahead of the solstice 7 bu. to 10 bu. is definitely not out of reach. That’s a premium guys are willing to gamble,” Ferrie says.
Overall, USDA shows 66% of the country’s soybeans are planted, and more than one-third, or 36%, have emerged.
