World record soybean yield winners share how to take soybean yields to next level

A crowd of farmers and industry leaders gathered at the Successful Farming Main Stage at Commodity Classic last week to hear from soybean contest world record holder Alex Harrell and Randy Dowdy, along with agronomist Dewey Lee. The three shared a wealth of knowledge and experiences of what it takes to grow world-record soybean yields.

Alex Harrell farms 3,000 acres with his dad near Smithville, Georgia. He shattered the world record for irrigated soybeans this past season with an average of 206 bushels per acre (bpa). He raises corn, soybeans, wheat, and watermelons and farms to push yield on every acre.

Randy Dowdy is a first-generation farmer raising corn, soybeans, wheat, and peanuts from Valdosta, Georgia. Randy set the world irrigated corn yield record in 2014 with a yield of 503 bpa and world record in irrigated soybeans in 2016 at 171 bpa. He is passionate about sharing his practices with other farmers through the Total Acre program. 

Dewey Lee has 35 years’ experience as an corn and small grain agronomist with Extension at the University of Georgia. He recently retired and has served as an agronomic adviser to Alex Harrell and is currently a state executive for the Georgia Corn Growers Association.

SF: Alex, can you tell me about your record-breaking season? What does it take to raise 200-bushel soybeans?

AH: I’ve gotten asked that a bunch, but there's no one silver bullet. We pull one-acre grid samples on our soil samples across every acre that we farm. We start with balance and base saturations in the soil, and then it goes from variety choices to herbicide choices and fungicide choices after that. We pull tissue samples along the way and we balance nutrition in the plant. Often, the tissue samples inform our fertility decisions. It’s a systems approach from start to finish.

SF: For you both, what are some unique features of your management plan?

RD: The last five years, we’ve focused on how to teach growers from Total Acre how to maximize return on investment. I want to understand where yield comes from and then understand where yield is lost —  being a student of the crop — knowing what pays and what does not pay. A farmer will never cut out what he or she knows pays. I've always encouraged other growers to have trials on their farm. The key is sharing that information with others, learning from everybody else, and learning from the data that you have on the farm. 

AH: it's a lot easier to make it work with $7 corn and $15 soybeans than it is with $4 corn and $10 beans. Everybody knows what works on their farm and what provides them return on investment (ROI). We'll still do the trials testing new products to see what provides the most ROI. We’re not going to cut anything out that will reduce yield, either. You can’t save the way to prosperity. We may cut out a product that we're unsure about, that we have two years’ of data on and it hasn't proven an ROI. We're definitely not going to use a product on the whole farm because of a good sales pitch and a pretty label. We know what does work and we're just going to stick with that.

SF: In your quest for yield records, what have you found to be most successful?

AH: The number one thing I've found is learning which products work and which ones don’t. You can walk down the aisles here at Commodity Classic and there are close to 400 exhibitors. Every company will say they have the best product. For example, we looked at 400 trials with 30 different boron products. The results narrowed down the five that moved the needle on tissue samples, and the ones that didn't. Some work on corn, some work on soybeans, some work on both, and some don’t work on either one. Having this data helps us figure out what products to use if our goal is to spend $5 an acre and we want to get $10 an acre back. You have to have data to back up how you make a decision.

SF: What have you found to have the greatest impact on yields?

AH: The planter. More than any product, getting a uniform stand, uniform emergence, and seed singulation. I know that sounds pretty simple, but without a doubt that's the number one thing. You drive higher yields with a better stand and better emergence. 

RD: There are a lot of things out of my control. God has blessed me immensely, and I know from whom my blessings flow. I still have to work. I still have to do my job. I still have to get out there and get after it. I believe that the difference between a good farmer and a great farmer is timing, attention to detail, and one's personal level of acceptance. Those three things, we are in control, to some degree. I believe in being a student of the crop, understanding where yield is captured and understanding where it's lost. But I also believe that we have to be God’s good faith.

SF: I know that it couldn't have been perfect weather from start to finish last season. What do you do to minimize stress during the season?

AH: One of the key strategies for higher yield is minimizing stress, whether it's corn or soybeans. There are several ways to do that. We can't do anything about the weather, or rain events. Heat is a big stressor for us in the South. We minimize that with irrigation. We can speed the pivots up and put well water on at night to cool them down and lower the canopy temperature at night. Fungicides are a big one for us. We have a lot of diseases in the Southeast that we have to fight. It goes back to the basics, too. Make sure that herbicide applications are applied on time so you're not getting any competition from weeds. Insects. Disease. There’s a mile long list of things that will stress a plant. Whatever we can do to minimize that will almost always protect yield. 

SF: What strategies you used in high yield plots have translated well to your non-contest acres?

AH: We do the high-yield plot for what we can learn. It's not about winning the contest. A two and a half acre plot doesn’t pay any bills. But what we learned from those two-and-a-half-acre plots, and all our trials that we do, we are able to put it on the rest of our acres to raise the farm average. There have been products I thought would be a grand slam, and ended up a flop. But we have learned a lot of things that do work — sometimes it's the ones you don't think anything about. 

RD: First and foremost we have to have fertility. We pull soil samples every year on one-acre grids because I want to understand yield variation across the field. It drives me nuts to go across the field and see 60-bushel beans to 130-bushel beans in the same field! I do my best to address soil pH. Not many people pull soil samples every year. Are you hoping what was there two, three, four years ago is still going to be there for this year's crop? Hope is a strategy but is it a good one? It’s important to have good data to make good decisions on your fertility in real time. 

Next, emergence and a good stand are paramount. In corn, we know that seed singulation is important. Seed singulation in soybeans is not a novel idea but it’s an easy way to make money. Many times the mindset is that we’re planting beans because we’re not planting corn. The number one enemy to soybean planting is trying to get finished and planting too fast. Look at the plants and see how many pods per plant are on the beans that are planted as doubles versus those that are properly spaced. You'll have an “a-ha” moment. 

Simultaneous emergence is equally important in soybean as in corn. What are the things that are affecting you from not getting that simultaneous emergence? Are we controlling seeding depth? It all starts from the planter. Return on investment for fungicides, insecticides, and micronutrients are all greater with a good stand that emerges simultaneously. If I have fields that the emergence is not good, I back off. I don't spend the money on those fields. But where I have a field that emergence is fantastic, I spend money and push that field. 

SF: The current average soybean yield in the United States is about 51 bushels per acre. The average yield in Georgia is 41 bushels per acre. Alex and Randy have proven that yield potential is much higher. What do you expect average soybean yield to be in five years?

DL: What do I expect in the next five years? Probably about 52 or 53 bpa. Why? Change doesn’t come easy. It’s fun getting to sit between Alex and Randy. They make being the redneck nerd fun! They just laid a framework for you to be successful and to improve your yield to whatever your farm is capable of doing. Stress is the killer. For example, we are an organic being. Stress hurts us. It kills us. You do everything you possibly can to stay healthy and you should treat that plant the same way.

Genetically, Alex proved the potential is over 200 bushels. The genetic potential is so far beyond the average. Randy said to be a student. Both of these guys are students of their crop. They study it. So you have the framework here between these two. They've really just given you their secrets. It's about knowing that crop, knowing how it's growing, what it can take, and how you can reduce stress you can control.

SF: Any final thoughts?

DL: You’ve heard from two farmers producing world-record yields. That came with some very hard work. I’d encourage you to listen from the perspective of “we’re never too old to learn.” Test on your own fields. Just try something. Pick a good area and change one or two things. Always adopt your successful change. And guess what, you'll change your practice in five or six years easily. You'll see that return on investment improving. I want to encourage you to take the knowledge shared here and push harder. We have a world to feed and you can do this.