Soy100 is all about building yield
South Dakota Soybean’s Soy100 conference is on March 23rd, in Brookings. “The whole point of the program is to help farmers to grow 100-bushel soybeans,” said Derrick Scott, a board member of the South Dakota Soybean Association (SDSA), who farms at Geddes, South Dakota. “People who come to the meeting will hear from experts in soybean markets, weed resistance, soil health, water management and much more. It’s a great program; I’ve been to it before and would highly recommend any local producers who have time to stop and check it out because it’s a very informative meeting.”
In addition to production information, there are going to be some competition results about which growers will be curious, according to Jeff Thompson, another board member of the SDSA, who farms at Colton, South Dakota. “We kind of go over some of the yield contest results that happened the previous year,” said Thompson. “This year it’s happening on March 23rd, so it’s coming up pretty soon. It will be in Brookings and it will be at McCrory Gardens, a very nice facility there.”
One-hundred-bushel soybean yields are the exception in South Dakota, said Scott, but soybean performance improves every year because of what he says are advances in soybean seed. “This last year we had a pretty tough year, as far as the drought. On our farm, without any rain, really, we still raised just about 40-bushel soybeans, which considering the price, was still a pretty good year for us. We were happy with that, but I know if it would have been 10 years ago, those same fields wouldn’t have made 25-bushels. Things have progressed so much so fast, that’s why we’re able to produce more with less water.”
“Anytime that we can increase the yields of our soybeans across the state, that gives us more bushels to be more profitable on the farm level,” added Thompson. “It gives us more bushels that we can process and export as a country too.”
For those attending Soy100 at McCrory Gardens in Brookings:
Registration is at 9:30 a.m.
Coffee and Rolls are provided by the South Dakota Soybean Research and Promotion Council (SDSRPC)
10:00 a.m. Keynote: Marketing and Economics with Tregg Cronin of Cronin Farms
10:45 a.m. Coffee Break
11:00 a.m. 2023 Fertilizer Outlook & Discussion with Karl Stenerson, Senior Marketing Analyst, Crop Nutrients, WinField United
11:20 a.m. 100 Bushel Beans with Dr. Cheryl Reese, Senior Lecturer and Farmer, South Dakota State University
11:40 a.m. Climate Outlook and Update with Laura Edwards, SDSU Extension State Climatologist
12:00 p.m. Lunch provided by the SDSRPC
1:00 p.m. Breakout Session 1 (attend one 30min session)
Marketing and Econ: Tregg Cronin of Cronin Farms
Soybean Diseases: Connie Strunk, SDSU Extension Plant Pathology Field Specialist; and Dr. Madalyn Shires, SDSU Extension Assistant Professor & Plant Pathology Specialist
Agronomy: Dr. Jon Kleinjan, SDSU Extension Agronomist
1:30 p.m. Break
1:40 p.m. Breakout Session 2 (attend one 30min session, same as above)
2:10 p.m. Soy100 concludes