When farmers tell Mike Janssen they're frustrated about bean yields, his answer makes them smile. He tells them they're insane. “That's when you keep doing the same thing over and over but expect different results,” says Janssen, from Hooper, NE.

And he's a little frustrated himself. He believes farmers leave a lot of yield in the field because of old habits that ignore new technology. To prove the point, he made a few cultural changes in the 2007 variety test plots he grows for Golden Harvest. The result was 90+ bu. soybeans on six of 12 NK Brand varieties on non-irrigated ground.

The same field averaged 58 bu. and 60 bu. in 2005 and 2006, respectively. The highest yield in this year's 650-ft. test plot was 94.4 bu. The lowest was 74.5 bu.

There's nothing exotic about Janssen's high-yield ideas. No snake oil or foo-foo products, as he likes to call them. “Most of the yield increase is simply cultural practices that protect the yield potential,” he says. “The genetic improvement or big yields is there; farmers just aren't realizing the potential.”

Yields are improving, however. “When I first came to Iowa State University (ISU) in 2003, farmers complained about 40-bu. soybean yields,” says Palle Pedersen, ISU Extension soybean specialist. “Now they complain about 50-bu. yields.

“We're starting to prove we can produce high-yielding soybeans across a large number of acres. Iowa should average 52 bu./acre in 2007, and we can increase it even more if we get more people on board. Iowa has not averaged above 50 bu./acre the last three years. Everyone should be able to raise soybeans that yield in the high 50s-60s,” says Pedersen.

Since 2003 Pedersen has focused his research on high-yield soybeans with checkoff funds from the Iowa Soybean Association. Janssen studied under Pedersen as a graduate student.

Growing high-yield soybeans is a nurturing process, different than the pedal-to-the-metal mentality used for pushing corn yields, according to Kevin Coey, president of AgSCI and owner of F.I.R.S.T.,an independent farmer organization that plants test plots annually to check yield potential for corn and soybeans.

“Soybeans are less dependent on environmental conditions than corn. In our tests we see soybean yields move up and down in a pack,” Coey says. “Hybrids, on the other hand, tend to have an individual niche that they thrive in. And there's more genetic diversity in corn,” he says.

The soybean nurturing process eliminates yield-reducing stresses such as weed pressure, insect infestations and diseases, such as white mold, SCN, sudden death syndrome or pod and stem blight, according to Coey. “It's important to have a field history of diseases that will reduce yields and then manage the crop to minimize the effects,” he says.

That's a season-long process, adds Pedersen. “It doesn't take a lot of mistakes to lose yield,” he says. “Soybeans are very sensitive to stress from weeds, insects or diseases. Any treatment decisions you make should be based on crop scouting and integrated pest management recommendations. It's critical that you keep the plant running at high capacity through July, and then it's up to Mother Nature to provide some August rains to fill out the seeds.”

Not surprisingly, Janssen will tell you that high yields start with seed. “Variety selection accounted for 21% of the yield increase we saw in our test plots,” he says. It's easy for farmers to figure out what varieties are best suited for their area. Seed dealers have that information and, of course, are more than willing to share. It's cutting the check that slows farmers down.

“Farmers tend to select soybeans based on seeds/lb. and cost/bag,” Janssen says. “Variety selection is third. They want the high seed count because it lets them plant more acres. But when you select a variety with tiny seeds, it yields tiny seeds.

“You need to look for a variety that will produce lots of large seeds to get top yields. The highest yielding variety in our plots had seeds the size of marbles,” he says.

Step two in Janssen's plan for high-yield soybeans is the tough one for most farmers. He planted his beans April 18 and figures that adds anywhere from 5 to 10 bu. an acre. “We had beans breaking the ground before some farmers started planting corn,” he says. “The weather was beautiful. In fact, we were wearing T-shirts. Then it turned cold and wet.”

Early planted beans certainly aren't a new idea. Farmers across the Midwest have tested the theory and, for the most part, decided it's better to wait until May. But, Janssen contests that newer crop protection chemicals can offset the risk of damping off and other early season plant diseases and insect infestations, specifically early bean leaf beetle populations.

“You have to manage the risk. We used seed treated with Cruiser-Maxx Pak, an insecticide/fungicide combination,” says Janssen, who works as a technical service agronomist for Golden Harvest, which is owned by Syngenta, manufacturer of Cruiser-Maxx. “Seventy percent of the seed we sell is treated.”

Why early planting? “Soybeans are a source-limited crop. Yield is strongly correlated to the total amount of solar radiation the plant receives,” Janssen says. “Once you understand the physiology of the plant, it becomes black and white what we need to do for higher yields.”