As Manitoba farmers make plans for seeding, corn and soybean agronomy was the focus of a crop meeting this week hosted by Marc Hutlet Seeds of Ste. Anne.
About 60 farmers attended the event in Steinbach, and Hutlet says one issue they talked about is that farmers may not be able to seed soybeans as early as last year.
"We went really early in 2015 with dates like April 30th or May 1st so just be careful, really, what the soil temperature is. We also talked about plant populations in soybeans as they are coming down as opposed to corn where we talked about how we're getting more bushels with higher plant populations as long as we're fertilizing accordingly. Over the last 30 years, genetic advancement has probably popped out an extra 30 bushels on its own if not more. We're trying to complement that with the fact that a lot of these new hybrids will have a higher yield environment with a higher plant population, providing the producer is supplying enough of a fertility package."
Meanwhile, Hutlet says it appears there will be only a modest change in seeding intentions here in the southeast this year.
Source : PortageOnline