Soybean School: What to do with corn residue

Corn yield records are made to be broken. That was certainly the case in Ontario in 2021 when the provincial average topped 200 bushels per acre, smashing the previous average yield mark.

But all the corn brings with it an abundance of organic matter to return to the soil. When it comes to soil health all that residue is precious, but it can cause headaches for growers who plant a following soybean crop. On this episode of RealAgriculture's Soybean School we catch up with PRIDE Seeds market agronomist Matt Chapple for some ideas on how growers can best manage all that organic matter as they head into soybean planting.

Corn stalks produced about one ton of dry matter residue for every 40 bu/ac. That means an average Ontario cornfield will produce about five tons of residue. What's a soybean grower to do? Chapple says the best strategy depends on a host of individual factors.

In this video, he explains that assessing the decomposition and positioning of the residue is key. In this field he notes that much of the residue is sitting up and concentrated along the base of last year's corn stalks. That bodes well for no-till soybeans, which can be planted with a well set-up planter that includes row cleaners and adequate downforce to clear trash between the corn rows, promote a drier, warmer seedbed, and ensure good seed-to-soil contact.

#soybean #soil #farming

Website: https://www.realagriculture.com/soybe...

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