Multi-state study proves soybean yields increase with artificial drainage

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Multi-state study proves soybean yields increase with artificial drainage

A new multi-state study shows artificial drainage gives soybeans a yield bump.  University of Wisconsin soybean specialist Shawn Conley tells Brownfield fields with artificial drainage have improved yields, whether using drain tile or surface drainage. Conley says, “We can get as much as a 4% yield gain in those areas that were tile-drained vs. if they weren’t drained at all.”

Conley says he suspects the reason for improved yields might have nothing to do with managing water on a growing crop. “It’s really kind of hard to tell. Is it the drainage part, or is it the fact that farmers can get into that ground up to seven days earlier?”

And, he says earlier planting means point-2 to point-5 more bushels per acre per day in additional yield.

Conley says the study gives growers a better handle on what drainage investments and upgrades can mean to the bottom line. “How much is that tile going to cost? Do you own that land versus renting that land? How many years can you amortize that out to pay for that? There’s a lot of questions there, but I think what it does do is give growers a better handle on what that yield gain is and they can just put their own numbers to it.”

The USDA funded study included data from North and South Dakota, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, and Wisconsin with replicated data from Minnesota, Iowa, and Missouri.  Conley says the data represents about 30% of the north-central U.S. corn & soybean acreage in a variety of soil types and environments.

Conley says the soybean research teams from the Universities of Nebraska and Wisconsin will be analyzing the large amount of data collected from the study. The USDA funded study includes data collected from 28-hundred farms after surveying more than nine thousand farmers.

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