Penn State Extension and the Pennsylvania Soybean Board have recently released the results of the 2011 Pennsylvania Soybean Contest. Several entries in the contest are over 80 bushels per acre. Results also include comparisons of management practices. It is interesting to see some of the populations, planting dates, and planting practices used by entrants.
The results of the 2011 Pennsylvania Soybean Contest have been posted http://cornandsoybeans.psu.edu/soybean/yieldindex.cfm. Entries were down a bit this year due to the unusual weather, but we were still able to document some top yield production in the state. The top yield this year was 86.28 bushels per acre, recorded by the Charles Farms, Inc. from Lancaster County. They were one of four entrants that produced more than 80 bushels per acre this year. This year the contest also recognized top yields from farms in the West Tier and Central Tier regions of the state. The top yield in the West Tier was recorded by Rick Telez from Lawrence County with a yield of 76.39 bushels per acre while in the Central Tier, David McLaughlin topped the contest with a yield of 65.68 bushels per acre.
These top yields reflect the top management of our producers and the genetics available to them. Management practices used by the soybean contest entrants tend to reflect some of the results from agronomic research studies in that top yields can be produced with a range of seeding rates and row spacings and that soybeans are tolerant of delayed planting through the end of May. Soybeans are also an ideal no-till crop and this is reflected by the 83% of the entries that were no-till. Our producers in the contest are also following some of the national trends, moving to more planters (78%) compared to drills (22%). Many producers are opting for the planters with split rows as 56% of the entrants were using rows from 11 to 20 inches. Only 33% of the entrants applied a fungicide, which likely reflects the lower disease pressure this year and the conscious effort many producers make at using and integrated pest management approaches on their soybeans.
Source:
Roth, Greg & Del Voight. PA Soybean Contest Showcases Top Producer. Field Crop News, Vol. 12:01, January 10, 2012. Penn State Extension. Online. http://extension.psu.edu/field-crop-news/archives/2012/january-10
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