Top Two Factors that have Biggest Impact on Yield

It is a common misconception that achieving higher yields is all about choosing the right variety. Wrong, variety is third on the list of factors that have the biggest impact on yield. Ahead of variety are drainage and fertility.

Drainage:

Achieve optimum drainage by ensuring you have enough field tile for the water load each farm receives during the year. To do this consider both average rainfall and flow from neighbouring fields in your watershed.

Benefits of Good Drainage:

· Ensures soil is properly aerated. Excess or standing water can choke your crops.

· Drainage reduces soil and nutrient loss from runoff.

Fertility: Fertility is HUGE for achieving higher yields. Fertility is all about plant nutrition, the food the plant needs to grow and produce the crop you harvest. “If you want higher yields, fine tune your fertility program.” Brian Hefty, AgPhD Radio

Did you know it takes more Potassium than it does Nitrogen to produce a corn crop? Yet lack of Potassium is very common in the soil tests we review. For this reason, almost everyone will see a yield boost in both corn and soybeans by increasing the amount of Potassium fertilizer you apply. Don’t forget about the secondary and micro-nutrients also. Having all 17 soil nutrients within their optimum ranges will give your crop the greatest chance of producing a high yield.

When making your fertility plan think about the top 10% of the field. Many farms get fertilized for the average, but imagine what that program is doing to the high yielding areas over the long-term.  Without replacing the nutrients being removed in the high-yielding  areas, those areas are mined of nutrients over time and begin to produce at the average. Use variable rate to fertilize different rates where needed.

Justus von Liebig's "Law of the Minimum"

The barrel to the left depicts the Law of the Minimum which states that growth of any plant is dependent on many different factors (the staves of the barrel), however, if one of the essential plant nutrients is deficient, plant growth will be poor even when all other essential nutrients are abundant.  Therefore, yield is controlled by the scarcest resource or limiting factor (yield loss will occur at the shortest stave of the barrel).