The past few growing seasons have brought many weather-related challenges as well as opportunities to soybean growers. Variability in spring rainfall has led to a wide range of planting dates being implemented by growers. However, information is lacking on how various soybean management practices should be adjusted based on planting time, and will benefit growers by maximizing the benefits of early-season soybean planting while mitigating losses from delayed planting.

The overall goal of this project is to develop management strategies that can lead to increased yield and reduced input costs while also minimizing production risks, ultimately resulting in improved farm profitability.
Specific objectives are to:
1) Identify optimum planting time, variety maturity, row spacing, seeding rate, and fertility across different soybean planting times for maximizing yield and profits;
2) Evaluate the role of seed priming and planting methods on soybean development and yield;
3) Investigate the effect of seed inoculation with Bradyrhizobium and Azospirillum on soybean yield, quality, and profitability across Michigan environments;
4) Quantify biological N fixation in soybean production environments for improved understanding of N budgets and yield impacts; and
5) Determine management and location-specific factors associated with soil health parameters and eventually impacts of soil health on soybean yield.

Information generated from this research will be used to develop and demonstrate recommendations for profitable soybean production in Michigan. Results will be disseminated to growers and stakeholders through winter extension meetings, summer field trips, MSUE News articles, and social media. Overall, this research could help improve understanding of soybean production systems and maximize yield and improve profitability of Michigan soybean farmers both in the short- as well as long-term basis.

Information generated from this research will be used to develop and demonstrate recommendations for optimizing soybean production across Michigan production environments. Results will be disseminated to growers and stakeholders in Michigan through extension presentations at regional and winter extension meetings, summer field tours, and webinars. Newsletter articles and factsheets generated from research findings will be posted on Cropping Systems Agronomy website (https://www.canr.msu.edu/agronomy/) and MSU Extension News Field Crop Production webpage. Research findings will also be presented at the annual meeting of the American Society of Agronomy and published as peer-reviewed articles with other participating collaborators. A final report will be provided to MSPC at the completion of research.

This research will be important in providing information to growers for effective management of soybean across varying production environments. Specifically, we will provide growers with information on various management decisions that can be changed based on planting date (with some pre-planning), as well as innovative strategies that could be tested at farm level before broader implementation. Overall, this research could help maximize soybean yields and improve farmer profitability in Michigan.