In addition to planting soybeans early and applying fungicide, Dan Vogel puts on the appropriate amount of nutrients for the given year, instead of trying to bank nutrients or apply a two-year spread.
High-yielding soybeans are every bit as important to Dan Vogel as the corn he grows on his central Illinois farm.
"Given fertilizer and other input costs, you could even argue the last year or two that soybeans are a more profitable crop than corn," Vogel says.
Soybean yields have been steadily increasing, contributing more dollars to his bottom line.
"The past few years we've averaged in the mid- to upper 70s range," Vogel says, who's based near Roanoke, Ill. He expects this year's soybean crop to exceed those numbers.
"Our high so far has been 93 bu. per acre on one farm, and I expect to average near 85 bu. per acre overall," he reported in early October.
