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Battle for the Belt: Episode 2

Episode 2 of Battle for the Belt is now available: https://youtu.be/aEJrbkvoZzQ

Timely corn and soybean planting is necessary to maximize crop yields. For soybean, we have seen approximately a 0.5 bushel per acre per day reduction in yield for each day soybeans were planted after the last week of April. Corn yield reductions can be up to 1.75 bushels per acre per day if planted after the last week of April.

Although timely planting is essential for both corn and soybean, the weather is often a severely limiting factor. Since 1995, there has been a reduction in suitable days for fieldwork in most Midwestern states, including Ohio (Figure 1). For Ohio, between April 17 to May 15, there has been an average reduction of 0.12 suitable field days per year between 1995 and 2020. Since 1995, an average of 15 suitable days for fieldwork were observed between April 17 to May 15 in Ohio.

 

Fieldwork Trends

 

With the Battle for the Belt project, we will address planting priority via field research - which crop should we plant first, corn or soybean?

However, due to sub-optimal conditions in the spring (e.g., wet, cold), we also plan to address the question - which crop has the smallest yield penalty for delayed planting, corn or soybean?

Besides answering these questions, the Battle for the belt project will help to identify management practices that can help to mitigate yield loss for delayed planting, such as relative maturity adjustments for corn and seeding rate adjustments for soybean.

Keep following the ‘Battle for the Belt’ project this growing season to learn more. You can access the full video playlist of Battle for the Belt on the Ohio State Agronomy YouTube channel here.

Crop Observation and Recommendation Network

C.O.R.N. Newsletter is a summary of crop observations, related information, and appropriate recommendations for Ohio crop producers and industry. C.O.R.N. Newsletter is produced by the Ohio State University Extension Agronomy Team, state specialists at The Ohio State University and the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center (OARDC). C.O.R.N. Newsletter questions are directed to Extension and OARDC state specialists and associates at Ohio State.