INVESTING CHECKOFF DOLLARS
PREDICTABILITY P ower More information is better information in the seed selection process BY LAUREN HOUSKA
Expert Tip Take advantage of seed discounts. Dealers may offer discounts for paying upfront, or purchasing early or in volume. Price per bag, trait technology and seeding rate all have an impact on expenses. Proper seed selection and one or more discounts could save $5 to $20 per acre.
24 | DECEMBER 2018 | IASOYBEANS.COM
W
hen it comes time to purchase seeds for next year’s growing season, weighing the pros and cons of the hundreds of available soybean varieties can be overwhelming. “Seed selection in soybean production is key to maximizing yield potential and has a large impact on profitability,” says Scott Nelson, Iowa Soybean Association (ISA) On-Farm Network® director. “It’s one of the most important management decisions farmers make each year.” With rising production costs and depressed soybean prices, risk management is paramount. In addition to selecting seed varieties that will produce high yields, farmers need to choose the right mix of varieties to minimize the risk of any individual variety. “It’s estimated soybean yields increase annually by about one-third of a bushel per acre due to genetic improvement,” Nelson says. While some new varieties may show this response, Nelson cautions, others may not yield any better than a variety currently being used. Consulting all reliable resources available will aid in the decision-making process. Farmers often have a handful of these go-to sources of information.
For Tom Oswald, a Cherokee County soybean farmer, those sources include his personal experience, seed company data, information from networking with other farmers and the Iowa Crop Performance Tests. The Iowa Crop Improvement Association (ICIA), an Iowa State University (ISU) affiliated nonprofit founded in 1902, conducts and publishes results from the Iowa Crop Performance Tests each year, funded in part by an investment from ISA. The data has provided direct comparisons among a large number of soybean varieties in many different environments for over 50 years. The association will mark its 100th year of corn testing in 2019. “I’ve been looking at the ISU data since I started farming,” Oswald, a long-time ISA member, says. “I like the unbiased nature of the report. I think it is a very important piece of information to compare across companies and varieties.”
Using data to inform decisions ICIA Executive Director Jim Rouse says there are two distinct ways to look at yield data, depending on the end goal:
