Space Those Soybeans

Nothing makes a farmer prouder than seeing a picket fence stand of corn -- row after row of evenly spaced plants as far as the eye can see. It's this precise spacing coupled with early, uniform emergence that form the foundation to top-end yields.

But, what about soybeans? Can singulation help boost bushels in the legume crop, as well?

Alex Harrell thinks so. The Leesburg, Georgia, farmer knows something about high-yield soybeans. He is the first to break the 200-bushel barrier, establishing a world record with a bin-busting yield of nearly 207 bushels per acre in 2023, eclipsing it the following year with 218 bushels. Harrell achieved the record-breaking yield with a Pioneer P49Z02E variety (4.9 maturity group) at a 110,000-planting population on strip-tilled 30-inch rows planted on March 21. Pivot irrigation on the red clay soil provided timely moisture throughout the growing season.

MORE PODS

Harrell started to pay closer attention to seed singulation from observations gathered walking his soybean fields. "I noticed we were getting more pods on those plants that were singulated versus the ones that were not."

To confirm, he pulled 10 plants that had excellent singulation and 10 plants that were poorly singulated from the same row, and took them to his shop to count pods. "The plants that were poorly singulated had 64% less pods than the plants with nearly perfect singulation," he explains. "That's when we really started homing in on it."

More pods generally equate to more bushels. Yet, Harrell is hesitant to pinpoint how much yield could be attributed solely to singulation. "Too many other variables come into play," he says.

Research, however, shows that accurate placement of individual seeds in a row with uniform spacing and emergence are critical factors to maximizing soybean yield and plant efficiency.

Precision Planting has conducted soybean singulation field trials since 2019. "To get soybeans to branch properly, soybean seed needs to be somewhat singulated; you can't plant these beans on top of each other and expect them to get the proper nodal branching," explains Jason Webster, lead commercial agronomist.

Unlike corn, plant architecture of soybeans allows the crop to better compensate for gaps. The plants adjust their growth accordingly, developing more lateral branching and nodes, leading to a higher number of pods per plant.

RETURN ON INVESTMENT

Research at the company's Precision Technology Institute, in Pontiac, Illinois, compared two of the company's seed plates: a nonsingulated (two-row) 80-hole disc and a singulated (one-row) 56-hole disc. With the 80-hole disc, the study found it was common for two seeds to drop into the seed tube at the same time, making it difficult to singulate seed into the furrow compared to the 56-hole disc.

At a planting population of 125,000, Webster observed that the 56-hole disc achieved a yield advantage from singulation averaging 1.2 bushels per acre versus the 80-hole disc. During the six years of trials, yield response ranged from 0.6 bushels to 2.2 bushels per acre.

The yield boost may seem minimal, but he says it provides a solid return on investment. When calculating the cost of the 56-cell plate and ejector wheel (assuming you already have a singulator), breakeven for singulation occurs at 66 acres with a 16-row planter. Using the price of soybeans over the 2019-2024 time frame, a grower receives a $14-per-acre return on investment. "That's a win every year just for singulating," Webster says. "I'll take that and run every time, and apply it to help offset other costs."

Beck's Hybrids has also studied soybean singulation. Jason Gahimer, Practical Farm Research manager, says three years of research showed a 1- to 2-bushel yield bump across different row widths of 30, 20, 15 and 10 inches. "Where we really started seeing the optimum value in singulating soybeans was at 10-inch rows. At that spacing, planting population is lower (around 129,000 in their tests), and seed is spaced further apart, providing the soybean plant more elbow room to branch out and produce additional nodes. The narrower the row, the more important singulating soybeans become."

GAME PLAN

Soybean singulation success starts with the planter. Harrell says he does "a ton of work" on planter setup. "You're planting at a much higher population than corn, dropping seed at the bottom of the trench that has a tendency to roll because of its shape. You're placing seed so close together, and it's harder to singulate."

He credits the brush delivery system on his Deere planter along with throttling down planting speed to help with singulation. Harrell closely watches the planter's monitor and stops to act if singulation even hints at falling below 99%. "Uniformity and consistency is everything," he stresses, "to produce higher yields. Singulation is just another step you can take to help get to that next level of productivity."

Precision Planting's Webster agrees. "Certainly, singulation can give you an extra edge to create consistent soybean stands, and hopefully, we can drive yields and profitability higher."

Yet, he says singulation must go hand in hand with the type of architecture of the soybean that's planted. "This is a big one. If we're going to look at lower seeding rates, which a lot of growers are wanting to do, singulation is just one part of the equation," Webster continues. "To get that branching effect, we've got to get a soybean variety that's going to have the architecture that offers that branching ability. Otherwise, we're going to have a straight-line soybean with all the nodes on the main stem of the plant. And, with a plant like that, I think you need more seed per acre, and it won't take advantage of the branching opportunities."

Beck's Gahimer takes a similar approach. He emphasizes soybean singulation helps create consistent stands. It's about getting those plants up out of the ground and evenly spaced so they branch out to fill every gap and capture every bit of sunlight as quickly as possible. That's the No. 1 way to drive yield.

"At the end of the day, singulation is just another tool in the toolbox to high-yield soybeans," he concludes.

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-- Email Gregg Hillyer at gregg.hillyer@dtn.com, or follow Gregg on social platform X @GreggHillyer

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