March 25, 2025 • 19 mins
Kicking off Part 1 of our special coverage from Commodity Classic 2025 in Denver (March 2-4, 2025), this episode takes you straight to the heart of America’s premier agricultural event. Recorded live, we dive into insightful conversations with industry experts, thought leaders, and innovators shaping the future of farming.
As growers look ahead to 2025, maximizing soybean yields while navigating economic and environmental challenges remains a top priority. In this episode, we sit down with Chad Eitmann, an experienced Iowa grower, to discuss proven strategies for high-yield soybean production. From early planting dates to maturity group selection, Chad shares insights on optimizing yield potential while managing harvest timing and avoiding costly moisture losses.
Key Takeaways:
✔️ The role of early planting in maximizing soybean yields
✔️ Selecting the right maturity group for your region and goals
✔️ Managing harvest timing to prevent 'ghost bushels' and maximize returns
✔️ Strategies to balance early harvest advantages with market demands
✔️ Lessons learned from real-world on-farm experiences
Stay tuned for Part 2, featuring another in-depth discussion with a special guest! Tune in now to gain actionable insights and practical tips for soybean success in the upcoming season!
Disclaimer:
Liberty, Outlook , Zidua, Zidua PRO , Poncho Votivo Precise, Endura , Revytek, Fastac CS, ILEVO , Vault IP Plus , Relenya , Priaxor , Liberty ULTRA , are registered trademarks of BASF. Nemasphere, Zorina and Voraxor are trademarks of BASF. Enlist, Enlist One, Enlist Duo, and Enlist E3 are registered trademarks of Corteva Agriscience LLC. The transgenic event in Enlist E3 soybeans is jointly developed and owned by Corteva Agriscience LLC and M.S. Technologies, L.L.C.
Xitavo is a registered trademark of MS Technologies and exclusively distributed by BASF. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners and use of any such trademark does not imply any affiliation with or endorsement by its owner.
Always read and follow label directions. Before mixing components, always conduct a compatibility jar test. Always consult respective product labels for specific mixing instructions. The most restrictive label applies. Fastac CS is a restricted use pesticide. Nemasphere, Zorina, and Voraxor are not registered and not available for sale. This information is provided for educational purposes only and is not intended to promote the sale of this product. Any sale of this product after registration is obtained shall be based solely on the EPA approved product label, and any claims regarding product safety and efficacy shall be addressed solely by the label. The views expressed by BASF employees and Guest are their own and do not necessarily reflect the views of BASF. Grow Smart is a registered trademark of BASF. Copyright 2025 BASF Corporation. All Rights Reserved.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Welcome to Spilling the Beans, the podcast that
spills the secrets to unlockingyour soybean farm's full
potential.
Every Tuesday, your hosts, billBackus and Jeff Mueller, dive
into expert strategies andinnovative solutions that will
help you boost your yields andmaximize your returns.
Whether you're a seasonedgrower or new to soybean farming
, we're here to help you succeed.
Let's get started.
Speaker 3 (00:25):
Hello and welcome to another episode of Spilling the
Beans.
I'm Jeff Mueller and I'm BillBackus, and thanks for joining
us today as we dive into theworld of soybeans, covering
various topics and providinginsights to the soybean industry
.
Bill, how are we doing today?
Speaker 4 (00:37):
Oh, we're here at the Commodity Classic.
We couldn't be doing better,Right Jeff?
Speaker 3 (00:40):
No, it's beautiful weather out today and
unfortunately we are inside, butDenver's treated us pretty well
for the last couple days.
Got to see a lot of farmers inhere and a lot of interesting
conversations the last coupledays.
Speaker 4 (00:52):
Yeah, we've been talking to people from all over
the entire you know US,basically all the way from Idaho
down to Florida, over toMaryland, clear up to North
Dakota.
So just a lot of people, a lotof interesting topics we've
talked about.
So talked a lot about wheat,talked a lot about, you know,
canola today.
So a lot of different things.
Speaker 3 (01:10):
Absolutely, and the one topic that we like to cover
on Spilling the Beans is talkingabout soybeans.
So we're going to get into thattoday.
We're going to.
You know, we've been hearingsome information, some
conversations, you know, overthe past few months, growers'
concerns with soybean productiongoing into 2025.
We know, with some of theeconomic challenges we're going
to be dealing with, it reallycomes down to growing a lot of
(01:31):
bushels, right, we really needto maximize those bushels out
there and that's our way that wecan really help get through
some of these leaner economictimes that we're dealing with.
So we're going to have aproducer come up today and he's
going to talk to us about theirsoybean production operation.
And, Bill, so what are some ofthe things you think about when
we talk about high-yield soybeanproduction?
Speaker 4 (01:48):
Yeah.
So when we've been talkingabout high-yield soybean
production, we've talked aboutgenetics by environment, by
management, really the soybeanyield triangle I call it.
So if you think about geneticsat the foundation of the
triangle and you've gotenvironment on the other leg and
you've got management on theother leg, that's kind of the
key things that we look at.
All of our soybean breedersreally focus on genetics by
(02:10):
environment, and when we asagronomists add in the
management leg, that's when westart taking it to a whole new
level and really understanding alot of different things that we
can do really in maximizing ouroverall soybean production.
So if you think about thecenter of the triangle, we
really have the number of podsper acre and then we think about
(02:30):
seeds per pod and then we thinkabout weight per seed and if we
figure out how to influenceeach of those three factors,
that's how we're going to get tomore yield.
So with that we're going tobring up our grower here today.
It's Chad Eitman.
He's from Traynor, iowa.
So, chad, come on up.
So, chad, welcome to the stage,welcome to Spilling the Beans.
(02:54):
So glad to have you here.
So if you want to introduceyourself, tell us a little bit
about yourself, your operationkind of some of your yield goals
, and a little bit more.
Let us learn a little bit moreabout Chad.
Speaker 2 (03:01):
Thanks, bill, it's been a great time, it's been fun
.
Love this show.
Our operation consists of justcorn and soybeans, that's it.
Farm with my brother we farmabout 5,000 acres or so and try
and keep our rotation 50-50.
And we try and shoot for youknow, corn yield goals are about
(03:21):
265, sorry, and about 80 onbeans, although beans get really
variable, they're a strugglefrom time to time.
Sometimes they're 60, sometimesthey're 80.
Speaker 3 (03:33):
Yeah, no, and today we've talked about, we're going
to focus on more of the soybeanproduction factors that you
implement, or that you have beenimplementing on your farm to
help attain some of those higheryielding goals in soybeans that
you've been dealing with thelast few years.
Speaker 2 (03:50):
So we like to grow a lot of early season maturity
beans and we like to plant themvery early.
We've seen a lot of benefitsfrom getting out there before we
plant corn.
It's the first thing we doPlant beans.
If it's too cold to plant corn,go start slamming beans in the
ground, Get them growing and getthem flowering before summer
(04:11):
solstice and get to going.
We do early RMs to get thecombine going sooner.
Been really successful withthat.
I'm not a big fan of fullseason beans, despite what a lot
of guys say.
A lot of that's the function ofthe harvest window.
Speaker 4 (04:27):
Yes, so, Chad, I've got a quick question.
So when you say early, defineearly for me.
How early are we talking?
Speaker 2 (04:33):
Early planting.
Speaker 4 (04:34):
Yeah, early planting soybeans yeah, april 10th.
Speaker 2 (04:36):
I'm in southwest Iowa , I didn't mention that.
Right around Omaha CouncilBluffs you don't have to go five
years earlier than that and youknow we didn't start planting
beans until you know May 10th.
You didn't even think about it,and now it's just earlier and
earlier and earlier.
We have seen no detriment tostarting early.
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (04:55):
Cool.
And one other question I'd liketo add on.
There too, you talk about notonly an earlier planting but
earlier maturity type of beanvarieties.
So typically, when you'retalking earlier, you're taking
like a half a maturitydifference.
So you know, if you plant likea 3-0 or you're going to a 2-8,
or if you plant a 3-0, normallyare you going to like a 2-2 or
what's your thoughts behind that?
Speaker 2 (05:16):
I should have started with normal for our areas,
about a 2-8 to a 3-2.
That's probably average.
So when you start talking toRMs with a 1 in front of them
probably average.
So when you start talking toRMs with a one in front of them,
it starts to sound a littlescary.
But what we found my favoritebean right now is a one nine.
It seems really early, but notonly does it seem to enhance
yield, but it also there's amarket driver behind it.
(05:37):
We have a crush plant reallyclose to our area.
A lot of times they're hungryfor beans the first week of
September, so a lot of times youcould have your cake and eat it
too.
Speaker 4 (05:48):
Very good, yeah, no, I think that's a key thing.
And you think about the timingof just harvest, right, Harvest
timing.
So you're getting out thereearly, you're getting that
before you get all those.
We talked this a little bitlast night.
We were kind of prepping alittle bit of ghost bushels,
right.
So those ghost bushels that wecontinue to lose and figure out
where in the heck did they goand what's kind of going on from
that perspective.
So you know, you've got a storythat I think you can probably
tell about that.
(06:08):
I do, I do, yeah.
Speaker 2 (06:10):
Larger field, 360-acre field that we have and
we started got a little showerand beans were running right
around 80.
I was super impressed really itwas a little different
geography than what we had beenin and was like shocked Wow, we,
we got really good beans overhere, got that rain out, we went
to the other side of the farm,started working our way back.
Took us about three days to getback there, wasn't the best
(06:31):
combine in timeline, but in thattime frame the beans crashed.
They went from 11%, 12% to 8%and Yieldmap told the story 10
bushels just gone.
10 bushels were just gone.
So this year our strategy hasbeen to spread maturity out a
little bit more and go from onenines to a three O so that we
(06:52):
can keep combining them beanswhen none of us want to combine
them, when they're tough andgrowling and taking all kinds of
diesel fuel.
It's exactly what I want.
Speaker 4 (06:59):
Yep, exactly, exactly .
So we're going to pause, okay,okay.
Speaker 2 (07:03):
Oh, okay, oh there you go, there we go camera
dropped or something.
Speaker 4 (07:08):
so, all right, we'll go ahead and keep going.
Yeah, get that mic up there soeverybody hears a little bit
better.
It's all good right, we'relearning as we go, doing this
live, so kind of recordingthings.
So you know, we've had a lot ofconversations, chad, about
fertility, fertility on soybeans, so let's dig into that
literally just a little bit.
And what are you seeing?
What are you doing?
Speaker 2 (07:36):
What are you doing different that you would?
You know kind of some of ourother listeners and audience
here to understand aboutfertility and soybeans?
First one is pH.
It's always pH, especiallyrevolving around beans, and it's
one of the first things that Isee when I talk to other guys
gets ignored.
I'd like my pH is six, five orhigher.
It's difficult to get that far,that high.
It may take four applications,a line spread out over four
years.
You're talking about a decadeto get it really where you want
(07:57):
it to be.
If you're starting at a 5.2 ora 5.5 to get it there and then
follow it up with your normal Pand K stuff, Driving fertility
higher than maybe the averageguy would, or the average
recommendation is, Seems likeit's had some pretty good
success.
Sets that stage for potentialwhen you know that's where the
fungicides are coming in, whenyou got all that potential
(08:19):
buildup.
Now we just got to protect it,yeah.
So what about sulfur?
What do you think about that?
On soybeans, Huge believer ofsulfur.
On corn Beans, I'm both sidesof it.
Beans need sulfur.
We don't get it out of the airlike we used to.
So I've been running trials.
Some of them are successful,some of them not.
Depends on the year, depends onthe timing.
(08:40):
This year, actually, the waythings turned out, I'm going to
go without sulfur, just becausenormally when I make my sulfur
application it didn't pan out.
Hopefully I'm not planning fora disaster.
Yeah, fair enough.
Fair enough.
Speaker 3 (08:52):
And you know, you bring up a lot of good points.
We're talking about fertility,we talk about harvest timing,
data, plant and a lot of thosethings that we've worked on.
But you know, really, it comesdown to no matter what you do,
if you're not placing the rightvariety on the right acre, you
know everything's for naught,correct?
Right, so we always got to makesure from your soybean varieties
(09:12):
always meeting the needs thatyou want to have out there, your
soybean variety is alwaysmeeting the needs that you want
to have out there.
You know what do you feel are?
If you're talking to theaudience today, what do you feel
are some of the must-haves tohelp maximize that soybean yield
out in your fields?
That you would say this is amust-have.
I must do every year becausethis is what I need to do to
help maximize those soybeanyields.
Speaker 2 (09:29):
Number one is pH, number two is the fungicide.
You can go into maturity andbean architecture and those
things, but to me, the two, mostthings that are most important
to me, are pH and fungicide.
Speaker 3 (09:45):
If you don't have those things, then you're not
going to get what you want.
Speaker 4 (09:50):
Exactly so.
I'm a little curious aboutsudden death syndrome.
What are your thoughts?
Speaker 2 (09:53):
on that.
Sudden death seems to be ourbiggest problem.
We run, I leave on everything.
It's a must in my mind but itdoesn't protect everything that
we need to do.
We need another level, anothermode of action, another
something.
We need something else.
That's probably my biggestdriver when I talk about
(10:15):
variability and yield.
Um, that's probably my biggestdriver when I talk about
variability and yield.
Um.
If I've got SDS, that yearbeans make 60.
If I don't, they make 80.
Uh, it's just, it's almost thatsimple really.
But I don't, but I don't havethe answer.
Right, I don't have the answer.
That's the bad part.
Speaker 4 (10:29):
Yeah, and I think that's what you know.
In a previous episode we talkedabout uh, we've talked about
SDS.
We've talked about sudden deathsyndrome.
We've talked about our BASFNemisphere, which is basically
the first BT soybean, basicallypending regulatory approval for
2028 for soybean cyst nematode.
So really excited to get thatout there.
Hopefully that'll help becauseSCN and SDS go hand in hand.
So I think that's going to be abig piece of that puzzle.
(10:51):
So we do have Chinese approvalwe're waiting on European EU and
Japan and the Philippines toget that, but pending regulatory
approval for 2028, we will belaunching that based with our
Zatavo soybeans and the List E3stacked with that.
So really excited to get thatto kind of help answer some of
those concerns and questionsthat we have.
(11:11):
So how about white mold?
Just curious about white moldreal quick.
Speaker 2 (11:15):
White mold is something I haven't seen, but
it's not the main driver.
I have seen it in a couple offields that it is the main
driver, but it's not a perennialproblem like SDS is.
And I would say I'm excitedabout Nemisphere too, because
anything you could do to protectall those roots that's where
all these diseases come in atyeah, yeah, no, I think that's.
Speaker 4 (11:34):
that's a big piece.
So you mentioned fungicide.
I want to dig into that just alittle bit more too.
So so if you think aboutfungicide at on the soybeans,
you know what are you doing.
In the corn, let's, let's slipover to corn for a second, corn
and soybeans, kind of kind oftimings.
You know what are you doing,you know rates.
Speaker 2 (11:59):
You know when are you doing it and sneak into tar
spot for a second just becauseit's a big topic.
So so go ahead and go therewith with what you've seen and I
think that's a good, good topicreal quick.
So I've been running veltemafor a few years and, uh, great
fun to side but tar spot startedmoving into our area um in 2022
, and the pressure just keptbuilding and building and I was
really concerned that we weresetting ourselves up in 24 for a
catastrophe and and I was rightI switched to Revitec.
I found some data that showedthat maybe it was a little
(12:21):
better on tar spot.
I'm not sure.
Maybe I'm splitting hairs alittle bit, but it also
simplified my operation.
Revitec on corn and beans Done.
Nice, nice, nice Timing wise oncorn earlier, the better Scout
and spray, not a fan.
Uh, if you see it, there's somuch, especially when it comes
to tar spot.
There's so much alreadyinoculated out there that that
(12:43):
is going to come even after youapply um, that you just got to
go sooner, so I like to go whenI see about 10 tassel.
I'm trying to get thatapplication done as quick as I
can yeah, so on soybeans.
Speaker 4 (12:54):
Then what's your timing and application and what
do you see in there?
Speaker 2 (12:58):
Soybean timing.
I almost do it a little bitmore by the calendar.
I start about the end of Julyon the earlier season beans and
then work for about 10 days, twoweeks.
Don't have to work at it veryhard when you spread maturities
out a little bit and then tryand wrap it up by the first week
of August.
Yeah, cool, cool.
Yeah, cool, cool.
Speaker 3 (13:12):
Yeah, no, so you know we're getting here to the end.
We really appreciate you, chad,taking the time and talking
with us today.
Is there anything that you knowBSF's got coming out in the
next few years that's really gotyou intrigued or that you're
really excited about for yourfarming operation, hopefully to
help take you to that next stepin your productivity of your
soybean acres?
Speaker 2 (13:36):
Well, I'm hoping it's the anemosphere really helps
take some of that schizophrenicbean yield out of there and we
could be more consistentthroughout time, based on if we
don't have stuff chewing on ourroots, we'll have a lot less
disease.
A lot of these diseases come inso early in the season you
really don't even realize ituntil they're in reproductive
stages, and then there's reallynothing you can do about it.
It's too late for the season.
Speaker 4 (13:55):
Yeah, no, very true, very true.
Yeah, cool, cool.
So yeah, anything else you wantto say that you haven't said so
far?
So again, I want to thank youfor your time up here, but, yeah
, anything.
Closing comments no it wasgreat.
Speaker 2 (14:05):
It's great, you know.
I just always want to spursomebody to look into their
fertility and and take controlof it.
Go after it yourself and figureout what you want to do.
Speaker 4 (14:17):
Yeah awesome, awesome .
Thanks for your time, chad, sowe'll let you step down and
we'll go from there.
So thanks again.
Thanks, guys, you bet.
Speaker 3 (14:25):
So, bill, we heard a lot of stuff up here today, yeah
.
Back from Chad and interestingwith his operation, what he does
and a lot of things he does,and obviously you can see he
puts a lot of passion and a lotof time into growing high yield
and really we talk about theeconomics that we're dealing
with right now.
It's about maximizing thoseyield bushels you have out there
and really if you think aboutsoybeans and you think about
(14:47):
corn that we're mainly talkingsoybeans here at this talk
there's that yield potential outthere and once it gets taken
out of the so increasing youryield is about protecting more
of that yield potential.
And I think that's wherefungicides come in, that's where
using, you know, matching thevarieties up on those certain
(15:10):
fields, helping those bettergermplasm, better genetics that
are coming out there and thoseto beat a lot of those.
But what are a couple of yourkey take-home points that we
learned from Chad today?
Speaker 4 (15:19):
Yeah, no, so I've known Chad for a long time, so
again, thanks, chad, for takingthe time here today to join us.
And you know, always learnsomething new.
And you think about fertility.
I mean, that is the number onething when you think about that,
and building that base andunderstanding that foundation
that you have.
You know, I always like to sayit starts with the seed, so you
got to understand the seedvariety, but then you know
weather and what else is there?
Yeah, fertility, fertility.
(15:40):
You've got to have thatfoundation built, basically take
care of business, start withthe pH, just like he said.
I think that's a key piece ofthe puzzle.
And then, really, when youthink through everything else,
you think about protectingagainst, you know, the soybean
cyst nematode.
You think about sudden deathsyndrome, a couple of the key,
most prevalent diseases andpests that we have.
And then you really think aboutfungicide and where does that
(16:02):
fit in?
Obviously, bisf, big cropprotection company.
You know we do have seed aswell and we've got seed
treatments.
You know we've got a lot ofdifferent things going on.
One topic we didn't breach wasactually inoculant and kind of
get into that.
So I think there's some thingsthere that you start looking at
and how to maximize productionall the way around, and I think
that the biggest piece of thepuzzle is really just taking
care and understanding what youhave in your operation, in your
(16:24):
farm, basically to maximizepotential.
So, jeff, how about you?
Speaker 3 (16:28):
Yeah, you know a lot of the things that you said.
You know learned a lot of goodthings.
But I think the main thing youknow and we always talk about
with fungicides being put on,you know we always think about
to control a disease or toprevent a disease coming in.
But you know that stressmitigation level that you get
with a fungicide, that helpsfrom that standpoint, helping
(16:48):
protect it not only from adisease but also from helping
protect it against some of thosestresses that it could have.
And anytime you can make ahappy bean plant or happy corn
plant, that's going to get youmore yield.
Speaker 4 (16:57):
Absolutely.
Speaker 3 (16:58):
Understanding some of those values that are there.
And sometimes we look ateconomic times to be a little
bit harder.
You know it's about the firstthing people think about is
cutting things, and again, westill need to maximize that
yield that we have out there,and that's really what pays the
bills during these times of year.
So, with that being said, thisis our episode of Spilling the
Beans.
Bill, thanks for joining metoday.
I really appreciate it and thankyou all for joining us today,
(17:19):
and we invite you to downloadthe GrowS Smart Live app for
more information and moreresources and share this podcast
with other growers.
So, with that being said, wewant to thank you for your
attendance today and make it agreat day.
Speaker 1 (17:32):
Thanks for joining us on Spilling the Beans, where
every episode gets you one stepcloser to maximizing your
soybean profitability.
If you found today's insightsvaluable, subscribe and leave us
a review on your favoriteplatform.
Insights valuable subscribe andleave us a review on your
favorite platform.
Download the Grow Smart Liveapp for more resources and share
the podcast with other growers.
See you next week with moreexpert tips to help you grow
(17:54):
smarter and achieve the bestyields yet.
Liberty Outlook Zidua, ziduaPro, poncho, motivo, precise,
endura, rivitec, fastaxi S,elevo, vault, ip+, relenia,
triaxor, liberty Ultra areregistered trademarks of BASF.
Nemisphere, zorina and Voraxorare trademarks of BASF.
Enlist, enlist One, enlist Duoand Enlist E3 are registered
(18:14):
trademarks of Corteva AgritiansLLC.
No-transcript.
Welcome to Spilling the Beans, the podcast that
spills the secrets to unlockingyour soybean farm's full
potential.
Every Tuesday, your hosts, billBackus and Jeff Mueller, dive
into expert strategies andinnovative solutions that will
help you boost your yields andmaximize your returns.
Whether you're a seasonedgrower or new to soybean farming
, we're here to help you succeed.
Let's get started.
Speaker 3 (00:25):
Hello and welcome to another episode of Spilling the
Beans.
I'm Jeff Mueller and I'm BillBackus, and thanks for joining
us today as we dive into theworld of soybeans, covering
various topics and providinginsights to the soybean industry
.
Bill, how are we doing today?
Speaker 4 (00:37):
Oh, we're here at the Commodity Classic.
We couldn't be doing better,Right Jeff?
Speaker 3 (00:40):
No, it's beautiful weather out today and
unfortunately we are inside, butDenver's treated us pretty well
for the last couple days.
Got to see a lot of farmers inhere and a lot of interesting
conversations the last coupledays.
Speaker 4 (00:52):
Yeah, we've been talking to people from all over
the entire you know US,basically all the way from Idaho
down to Florida, over toMaryland, clear up to North
Dakota.
So just a lot of people, a lotof interesting topics we've
talked about.
So talked a lot about wheat,talked a lot about, you know,
canola today.
So a lot of different things.
Speaker 3 (01:10):
Absolutely, and the one topic that we like to cover
on Spilling the Beans is talkingabout soybeans.
So we're going to get into thattoday.
We're going to.
You know, we've been hearingsome information, some
conversations, you know, overthe past few months, growers'
concerns with soybean productiongoing into 2025.
We know, with some of theeconomic challenges we're going
to be dealing with, it reallycomes down to growing a lot of
(01:31):
bushels, right, we really needto maximize those bushels out
there and that's our way that wecan really help get through
some of these leaner economictimes that we're dealing with.
So we're going to have aproducer come up today and he's
going to talk to us about theirsoybean production operation.
And, Bill, so what are some ofthe things you think about when
we talk about high-yield soybeanproduction?
Speaker 4 (01:48):
Yeah.
So when we've been talkingabout high-yield soybean
production, we've talked aboutgenetics by environment, by
management, really the soybeanyield triangle I call it.
So if you think about geneticsat the foundation of the
triangle and you've gotenvironment on the other leg and
you've got management on theother leg, that's kind of the
key things that we look at.
All of our soybean breedersreally focus on genetics by
(02:10):
environment, and when we asagronomists add in the
management leg, that's when westart taking it to a whole new
level and really understanding alot of different things that we
can do really in maximizing ouroverall soybean production.
So if you think about thecenter of the triangle, we
really have the number of podsper acre and then we think about
(02:30):
seeds per pod and then we thinkabout weight per seed and if we
figure out how to influenceeach of those three factors,
that's how we're going to get tomore yield.
So with that we're going tobring up our grower here today.
It's Chad Eitman.
He's from Traynor, iowa.
So, chad, come on up.
So, chad, welcome to the stage,welcome to Spilling the Beans.
(02:54):
So glad to have you here.
So if you want to introduceyourself, tell us a little bit
about yourself, your operationkind of some of your yield goals
, and a little bit more.
Let us learn a little bit moreabout Chad.
Speaker 2 (03:01):
Thanks, bill, it's been a great time, it's been fun
.
Love this show.
Our operation consists of justcorn and soybeans, that's it.
Farm with my brother we farmabout 5,000 acres or so and try
and keep our rotation 50-50.
And we try and shoot for youknow, corn yield goals are about
(03:21):
265, sorry, and about 80 onbeans, although beans get really
variable, they're a strugglefrom time to time.
Sometimes they're 60, sometimesthey're 80.
Speaker 3 (03:33):
Yeah, no, and today we've talked about, we're going
to focus on more of the soybeanproduction factors that you
implement, or that you have beenimplementing on your farm to
help attain some of those higheryielding goals in soybeans that
you've been dealing with thelast few years.
Speaker 2 (03:50):
So we like to grow a lot of early season maturity
beans and we like to plant themvery early.
We've seen a lot of benefitsfrom getting out there before we
plant corn.
It's the first thing we doPlant beans.
If it's too cold to plant corn,go start slamming beans in the
ground, Get them growing and getthem flowering before summer
(04:11):
solstice and get to going.
We do early RMs to get thecombine going sooner.
Been really successful withthat.
I'm not a big fan of fullseason beans, despite what a lot
of guys say.
A lot of that's the function ofthe harvest window.
Speaker 4 (04:27):
Yes, so, Chad, I've got a quick question.
So when you say early, defineearly for me.
How early are we talking?
Speaker 2 (04:33):
Early planting.
Speaker 4 (04:34):
Yeah, early planting soybeans yeah, april 10th.
Speaker 2 (04:36):
I'm in southwest Iowa , I didn't mention that.
Right around Omaha CouncilBluffs you don't have to go five
years earlier than that and youknow we didn't start planting
beans until you know May 10th.
You didn't even think about it,and now it's just earlier and
earlier and earlier.
We have seen no detriment tostarting early.
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (04:55):
Cool.
And one other question I'd liketo add on.
There too, you talk about notonly an earlier planting but
earlier maturity type of beanvarieties.
So typically, when you'retalking earlier, you're taking
like a half a maturitydifference.
So you know, if you plant likea 3-0 or you're going to a 2-8,
or if you plant a 3-0, normallyare you going to like a 2-2 or
what's your thoughts behind that?
Speaker 2 (05:16):
I should have started with normal for our areas,
about a 2-8 to a 3-2.
That's probably average.
So when you start talking toRMs with a 1 in front of them
probably average.
So when you start talking toRMs with a one in front of them,
it starts to sound a littlescary.
But what we found my favoritebean right now is a one nine.
It seems really early, but notonly does it seem to enhance
yield, but it also there's amarket driver behind it.
(05:37):
We have a crush plant reallyclose to our area.
A lot of times they're hungryfor beans the first week of
September, so a lot of times youcould have your cake and eat it
too.
Speaker 4 (05:48):
Very good, yeah, no, I think that's a key thing.
And you think about the timingof just harvest, right, Harvest
timing.
So you're getting out thereearly, you're getting that
before you get all those.
We talked this a little bitlast night.
We were kind of prepping alittle bit of ghost bushels,
right.
So those ghost bushels that wecontinue to lose and figure out
where in the heck did they goand what's kind of going on from
that perspective.
So you know, you've got a storythat I think you can probably
tell about that.
(06:08):
I do, I do, yeah.
Speaker 2 (06:10):
Larger field, 360-acre field that we have and
we started got a little showerand beans were running right
around 80.
I was super impressed really itwas a little different
geography than what we had beenin and was like shocked Wow, we,
we got really good beans overhere, got that rain out, we went
to the other side of the farm,started working our way back.
Took us about three days to getback there, wasn't the best
(06:31):
combine in timeline, but in thattime frame the beans crashed.
They went from 11%, 12% to 8%and Yieldmap told the story 10
bushels just gone.
10 bushels were just gone.
So this year our strategy hasbeen to spread maturity out a
little bit more and go from onenines to a three O so that we
(06:52):
can keep combining them beanswhen none of us want to combine
them, when they're tough andgrowling and taking all kinds of
diesel fuel.
It's exactly what I want.
Speaker 4 (06:59):
Yep, exactly, exactly .
So we're going to pause, okay,okay.
Speaker 2 (07:03):
Oh, okay, oh there you go, there we go camera
dropped or something.
Speaker 4 (07:08):
so, all right, we'll go ahead and keep going.
Yeah, get that mic up there soeverybody hears a little bit
better.
It's all good right, we'relearning as we go, doing this
live, so kind of recordingthings.
So you know, we've had a lot ofconversations, chad, about
fertility, fertility on soybeans, so let's dig into that
literally just a little bit.
And what are you seeing?
What are you doing?
Speaker 2 (07:36):
What are you doing different that you would?
You know kind of some of ourother listeners and audience
here to understand aboutfertility and soybeans?
First one is pH.
It's always pH, especiallyrevolving around beans, and it's
one of the first things that Isee when I talk to other guys
gets ignored.
I'd like my pH is six, five orhigher.
It's difficult to get that far,that high.
It may take four applications,a line spread out over four
years.
You're talking about a decadeto get it really where you want
(07:57):
it to be.
If you're starting at a 5.2 ora 5.5 to get it there and then
follow it up with your normal Pand K stuff, Driving fertility
higher than maybe the averageguy would, or the average
recommendation is, Seems likeit's had some pretty good
success.
Sets that stage for potentialwhen you know that's where the
fungicides are coming in, whenyou got all that potential
(08:19):
buildup.
Now we just got to protect it,yeah.
So what about sulfur?
What do you think about that?
On soybeans, Huge believer ofsulfur.
On corn Beans, I'm both sidesof it.
Beans need sulfur.
We don't get it out of the airlike we used to.
So I've been running trials.
Some of them are successful,some of them not.
Depends on the year, depends onthe timing.
(08:40):
This year, actually, the waythings turned out, I'm going to
go without sulfur, just becausenormally when I make my sulfur
application it didn't pan out.
Hopefully I'm not planning fora disaster.
Yeah, fair enough.
Fair enough.
Speaker 3 (08:52):
And you know, you bring up a lot of good points.
We're talking about fertility,we talk about harvest timing,
data, plant and a lot of thosethings that we've worked on.
But you know, really, it comesdown to no matter what you do,
if you're not placing the rightvariety on the right acre, you
know everything's for naught,correct?
Right, so we always got to makesure from your soybean varieties
(09:12):
always meeting the needs thatyou want to have out there, your
soybean variety is alwaysmeeting the needs that you want
to have out there.
You know what do you feel are?
If you're talking to theaudience today, what do you feel
are some of the must-haves tohelp maximize that soybean yield
out in your fields?
That you would say this is amust-have.
I must do every year becausethis is what I need to do to
help maximize those soybeanyields.
Speaker 2 (09:29):
Number one is pH, number two is the fungicide.
You can go into maturity andbean architecture and those
things, but to me, the two, mostthings that are most important
to me, are pH and fungicide.
Speaker 3 (09:45):
If you don't have those things, then you're not
going to get what you want.
Speaker 4 (09:50):
Exactly so.
I'm a little curious aboutsudden death syndrome.
What are your thoughts?
Speaker 2 (09:53):
on that.
Sudden death seems to be ourbiggest problem.
We run, I leave on everything.
It's a must in my mind but itdoesn't protect everything that
we need to do.
We need another level, anothermode of action, another
something.
We need something else.
That's probably my biggestdriver when I talk about
(10:15):
variability and yield.
Um, that's probably my biggestdriver when I talk about
variability and yield.
Um.
If I've got SDS, that yearbeans make 60.
If I don't, they make 80.
Uh, it's just, it's almost thatsimple really.
But I don't, but I don't havethe answer.
Right, I don't have the answer.
That's the bad part.
Speaker 4 (10:29):
Yeah, and I think that's what you know.
In a previous episode we talkedabout uh, we've talked about
SDS.
We've talked about sudden deathsyndrome.
We've talked about our BASFNemisphere, which is basically
the first BT soybean, basicallypending regulatory approval for
2028 for soybean cyst nematode.
So really excited to get thatout there.
Hopefully that'll help becauseSCN and SDS go hand in hand.
So I think that's going to be abig piece of that puzzle.
(10:51):
So we do have Chinese approvalwe're waiting on European EU and
Japan and the Philippines toget that, but pending regulatory
approval for 2028, we will belaunching that based with our
Zatavo soybeans and the List E3stacked with that.
So really excited to get thatto kind of help answer some of
those concerns and questionsthat we have.
(11:11):
So how about white mold?
Just curious about white moldreal quick.
Speaker 2 (11:15):
White mold is something I haven't seen, but
it's not the main driver.
I have seen it in a couple offields that it is the main
driver, but it's not a perennialproblem like SDS is.
And I would say I'm excitedabout Nemisphere too, because
anything you could do to protectall those roots that's where
all these diseases come in atyeah, yeah, no, I think that's.
Speaker 4 (11:34):
that's a big piece.
So you mentioned fungicide.
I want to dig into that just alittle bit more too.
So so if you think aboutfungicide at on the soybeans,
you know what are you doing.
In the corn, let's, let's slipover to corn for a second, corn
and soybeans, kind of kind oftimings.
You know what are you doing,you know rates.
Speaker 2 (11:59):
You know when are you doing it and sneak into tar
spot for a second just becauseit's a big topic.
So so go ahead and go therewith with what you've seen and I
think that's a good, good topicreal quick.
So I've been running veltemafor a few years and, uh, great
fun to side but tar spot startedmoving into our area um in 2022
, and the pressure just keptbuilding and building and I was
really concerned that we weresetting ourselves up in 24 for a
catastrophe and and I was rightI switched to Revitec.
I found some data that showedthat maybe it was a little
(12:21):
better on tar spot.
I'm not sure.
Maybe I'm splitting hairs alittle bit, but it also
simplified my operation.
Revitec on corn and beans Done.
Nice, nice, nice Timing wise oncorn earlier, the better Scout
and spray, not a fan.
Uh, if you see it, there's somuch, especially when it comes
to tar spot.
There's so much alreadyinoculated out there that that
(12:43):
is going to come even after youapply um, that you just got to
go sooner, so I like to go whenI see about 10 tassel.
I'm trying to get thatapplication done as quick as I
can yeah, so on soybeans.
Speaker 4 (12:54):
Then what's your timing and application and what
do you see in there?
Speaker 2 (12:58):
Soybean timing.
I almost do it a little bitmore by the calendar.
I start about the end of Julyon the earlier season beans and
then work for about 10 days, twoweeks.
Don't have to work at it veryhard when you spread maturities
out a little bit and then tryand wrap it up by the first week
of August.
Yeah, cool, cool.
Yeah, cool, cool.
Speaker 3 (13:12):
Yeah, no, so you know we're getting here to the end.
We really appreciate you, chad,taking the time and talking
with us today.
Is there anything that you knowBSF's got coming out in the
next few years that's really gotyou intrigued or that you're
really excited about for yourfarming operation, hopefully to
help take you to that next stepin your productivity of your
soybean acres?
Speaker 2 (13:36):
Well, I'm hoping it's the anemosphere really helps
take some of that schizophrenicbean yield out of there and we
could be more consistentthroughout time, based on if we
don't have stuff chewing on ourroots, we'll have a lot less
disease.
A lot of these diseases come inso early in the season you
really don't even realize ituntil they're in reproductive
stages, and then there's reallynothing you can do about it.
It's too late for the season.
Speaker 4 (13:55):
Yeah, no, very true, very true.
Yeah, cool, cool.
So yeah, anything else you wantto say that you haven't said so
far?
So again, I want to thank youfor your time up here, but, yeah
, anything.
Closing comments no it wasgreat.
Speaker 2 (14:05):
It's great, you know.
I just always want to spursomebody to look into their
fertility and and take controlof it.
Go after it yourself and figureout what you want to do.
Speaker 4 (14:17):
Yeah awesome, awesome .
Thanks for your time, chad, sowe'll let you step down and
we'll go from there.
So thanks again.
Thanks, guys, you bet.
Speaker 3 (14:25):
So, bill, we heard a lot of stuff up here today, yeah
.
Back from Chad and interestingwith his operation, what he does
and a lot of things he does,and obviously you can see he
puts a lot of passion and a lotof time into growing high yield
and really we talk about theeconomics that we're dealing
with right now.
It's about maximizing thoseyield bushels you have out there
and really if you think aboutsoybeans and you think about
(14:47):
corn that we're mainly talkingsoybeans here at this talk
there's that yield potential outthere and once it gets taken
out of the so increasing youryield is about protecting more
of that yield potential.
And I think that's wherefungicides come in, that's where
using, you know, matching thevarieties up on those certain
(15:10):
fields, helping those bettergermplasm, better genetics that
are coming out there and thoseto beat a lot of those.
But what are a couple of yourkey take-home points that we
learned from Chad today?
Speaker 4 (15:19):
Yeah, no, so I've known Chad for a long time, so
again, thanks, chad, for takingthe time here today to join us.
And you know, always learnsomething new.
And you think about fertility.
I mean, that is the number onething when you think about that,
and building that base andunderstanding that foundation
that you have.
You know, I always like to sayit starts with the seed, so you
got to understand the seedvariety, but then you know
weather and what else is there?
Yeah, fertility, fertility.
(15:40):
You've got to have thatfoundation built, basically take
care of business, start withthe pH, just like he said.
I think that's a key piece ofthe puzzle.
And then, really, when youthink through everything else,
you think about protectingagainst, you know, the soybean
cyst nematode.
You think about sudden deathsyndrome, a couple of the key,
most prevalent diseases andpests that we have.
And then you really think aboutfungicide and where does that
(16:02):
fit in?
Obviously, bisf, big cropprotection company.
You know we do have seed aswell and we've got seed
treatments.
You know we've got a lot ofdifferent things going on.
One topic we didn't breach wasactually inoculant and kind of
get into that.
So I think there's some thingsthere that you start looking at
and how to maximize productionall the way around, and I think
that the biggest piece of thepuzzle is really just taking
care and understanding what youhave in your operation, in your
(16:24):
farm, basically to maximizepotential.
So, jeff, how about you?
Speaker 3 (16:28):
Yeah, you know a lot of the things that you said.
You know learned a lot of goodthings.
But I think the main thing youknow and we always talk about
with fungicides being put on,you know we always think about
to control a disease or toprevent a disease coming in.
But you know that stressmitigation level that you get
with a fungicide, that helpsfrom that standpoint, helping
(16:48):
protect it not only from adisease but also from helping
protect it against some of thosestresses that it could have.
And anytime you can make ahappy bean plant or happy corn
plant, that's going to get youmore yield.
Speaker 4 (16:57):
Absolutely.
Speaker 3 (16:58):
Understanding some of those values that are there.
And sometimes we look ateconomic times to be a little
bit harder.
You know it's about the firstthing people think about is
cutting things, and again, westill need to maximize that
yield that we have out there,and that's really what pays the
bills during these times of year.
So, with that being said, thisis our episode of Spilling the
Beans.
Bill, thanks for joining metoday.
I really appreciate it and thankyou all for joining us today,
(17:19):
and we invite you to downloadthe GrowS Smart Live app for
more information and moreresources and share this podcast
with other growers.
So, with that being said, wewant to thank you for your
attendance today and make it agreat day.
Speaker 1 (17:32):
Thanks for joining us on Spilling the Beans, where
every episode gets you one stepcloser to maximizing your
soybean profitability.
If you found today's insightsvaluable, subscribe and leave us
a review on your favoriteplatform.
Insights valuable subscribe andleave us a review on your
favorite platform.
Download the Grow Smart Liveapp for more resources and share
the podcast with other growers.
See you next week with moreexpert tips to help you grow
(17:54):
smarter and achieve the bestyields yet.
Liberty Outlook Zidua, ziduaPro, poncho, motivo, precise,
endura, rivitec, fastaxi S,elevo, vault, ip+, relenia,
triaxor, liberty Ultra areregistered trademarks of BASF.
Nemisphere, zorina and Voraxorare trademarks of BASF.
Enlist, enlist One, enlist Duoand Enlist E3 are registered
(18:14):
trademarks of Corteva AgritiansLLC.
No-transcript.
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