For southern Georgia farmer Randy Dowdy, hitting the 100-bushel mark with soybeans isn’t about how many seeds he can put in the ground—it’s about how many plants he can keep standing until the combine rolls.
Dowdy’s goal is to achieve a final stand of 80,000 plants – a population significantly lower than traditional populations in the Midwest.
Make Soybeans Go Horizontal
Dowdy’s approach is built on a simple “less is more” philosophy. He believes having fewer, well-managed plants can outperform a dense stand by growing horizontally through branching rather than competing vertically for light.
According to Beck’s Practical Farm Research (PFR), soybeans naturally branch and expand toward sunlight if given the space (see photo below). This branching creates more surface area for pod formation.
Conversely, Beck’s says high-density populations can limit a plant’s ability to branch, forcing it upward and increasing the risk of lodging— Dowdy’s self-proclaimed “No. 1 enemy.”
“Once a crop starts lodging, yield goes out the window,” Dowdy says. To prevent this, he backs off the population, relying on the plant’s architecture rather than sheer numbers to fill the canopy.
Dowdy’s target plant population is in line with what university Extension soybean specialists prescribe in their 2025 Soybean Plant Population Density article. See Table 1 below for some of their recommendations by state.
The Science Of Flex
Research supports the soybean’s ability to adapt. Field trials by University of Illinois Extension highlights the plant’s ability to flex — filling in gaps between plants to optimize sunlight capture.
“A soybean field with only 80,000 plants per acre may look and yield about the same as one with 125,000 or more,” university researchers report. “Their ability to do this depends on having plants close enough to one another to minimize the area where sunlight hits the soil during seed-filling.”
Illinois trials from 2015 to 2018 found the most consistent economic return there occurred at populations between 115,000 and 120,000 plants per acre. Learn more at Optimizing Corn and Soybean Seeding Rates - farmdoc
Dowdy says the 80,000 plant population is adequate for him to reach 100 bushels per acre and optimize ROI. “That’s where I’m making money and not just chasing bushels,” he tells Total Acre partner, David Hula, in their latest episode of Breaking Barriers With R&D podcast.
Managing Growth Without PGRs
To control height and encourage branching, some growers turn to plant growth regulators (PGRs) or “burn-back” herbicide strategies, such as applying Cobra to intentionally stunt the crop. Dowdy, however, remains skeptical of these as a primary strategy.
“A lot of people think PGRs have a direct correlation to shortening the beans,” he says. “I haven’t been able to duplicate that with consistency.”
When Dowdy chooses to burn his beans with herbicides, it is strictly for weed management—specifically to take out Palmer amaranth. “Whatever it takes to kill a stupid pigweed, that’s what I’m doing,” he explains. “It’s not a strategy of, ‘I need them to branch more, so I’m going to use the herbicide to do that.’”
The Bottom Line
Ultimately, Dowdy’s blueprint for high yields relies on three core principles:
- Protect every seed that goes into the furrow.
- Avoid lodging through lower populations and precise planting timing.
- Trust the crop to express its natural ability to branch and pod.
If his 80,000-plant target holds and the weather cooperates, Dowdy believes those fewer plants can carry the load — and put triple-digit yields within reach.
Hear more of Dowdy’s perspective on planting populations and his discussion with Total Acre partner, David Hula, on YouTube and at Farm Journal TV.
