Each year, soybean growers around the country take the American Soybean Association (ASA) and BASF up on their challenge to reduce weed competition, increase plant health and protect yields – but only three are chosen.
We already met first place winners David and Sue Roehm in an earlier post. Today we meet Dave and Mary Jonas of Pinnconning, Michigan, one of two runners up in the 2009 Secure Optimal Yield (SOY) Challenge, which won them a trip to Commodity Classic and $2000 in cash.
Dave says the SOY Challenge worked out well for them with a two and a half bushel increase in yield. “They had a certain program they wanted you to follow just to see the difference,” Dave said. Test acres received an application of a BASF residual herbicide, such as Prowl® H20, Scepter® or Extreme® herbicides, and a treatment of Headline® fungicide for disease control and Plant Health benefits. Control acres were treated with a single pass of glyphosate in-crop only – no fungicide or residual herbicide.
The goal is not so much to see how much of a yield bump they get with the program, but how taking part in the ASA/BASF SOY Challenge has helps them to be more successful soybean producers. Contestants must submit a testimonial in words or video to explain how the challenge worked for them. Dave says it worked well enough that they plan to use it on more acres this year.
Listen to an interview with Dave and Mary in the player below.
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