Soybean Planting Decision Tool

Choosing soybean maturities and when to plant soybeans are two critical decisions that farmers make each year. Typically, soybean variety selection occurs months before soybean planting occurs. An added complexity in the decision making is the weather conditions at the time of planting. Each year farmers are faced with the decision of planting into marginal conditions or the potential of late planting. Also, spring and early season weather sometimes forces farmers to replant soybeans later than ideal planting windows. A soybean planting decision support tool is presented here with the objective to assist in better understanding planting date by maturity by location interactions on soybean yield and crop staging. The decision tool has the potential for use in Extension, teaching, and research and presently covers 11 geographic locations. Within a location the user can select a soybean maturity (12 options) and a planting date (24 options) and visualize graphically the impact on yield and crop staging, as well as the optimum date of planting date and maturity group selection for maximum yields.