Early beans going in the ground
HEYWORTH – Jacob Wade spent time planting soybeans over the weekend in the beautiful 70-degree weather.
“We are trying to put in as many soybeans as we possibly can,” said the grower who farms in McLean, DeWitt and Tazewell counties near the towns of Heyworth, Wapella and Downs.
It was still cold when Wade started planting last week but he was able to get the bugs out of the equipment as temperatures warmed. The soil has been working well for Wade, making a nice seed bed and he will soon be over halfway done with soybean planting. He has been a big believer in early planted beans for about four years now.
“With soybeans, it’s all about getting in the most growing degree days you can before the summer solstice,” Wade explained.
Wade has had 100-bushel soybeans before and hopes to do it again by planting the seeds here in early April when conditions are fit. He is utilizing different seed treatment options on the beans.
“We have a seed treater and we treat everything ourselves,” Wade said. “I do lots of trials.”
This will be Wade’s third year for 15-inch corn trials. His previous 15 versus 30 inch corn plot featured 20 hybrids for five different companies replicated three times on 180 acres. He has been featured on the program “This Week in Agribusiness” and in farm magazines.
“I believe that you have 50 chances, if you’re lucky, to farm so why not try to learn something every year?”
Even though there weren’t too many planters out in the fields in recent days, things could change this week with a decent forecast that does not really call for much rain until about midweek.
Wade has a seed business known as AgVantage Seeds with corn and soybean seed treaters on site.
“It gives us a first look having our own operation as we can test a lot of things and then we can share with people what actually works,” he noted.
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