Benchmarking Soybean Production Systems in the North-Central USA.

Satisfying the future soybean demand for food, biodiesel, and livestock feed requires closing the difference between attainable and actual yield (i.e., yield gaps). US is the largest soybean producer (35% of total production), and concentrate 80% of their production in the North Central region. The aim of this work is to benchmark current yield and management practices in producer fields across this region in order to identify yield-limiting factors, increase on-farm soybean yield and improve the input-use efficiency. Producer self-report data were collected for 2014 and 2015 from 10 states (NE, WI, MI, IN, IL, IA, ND, OH, KS, and MN), which account for c.a. 3500 fields. Requested information include yield, field location, and detailed information on crop, field, and input management practices, such as planting date, soybean variety, tillage method, etc. Data collection has a total duration of 3-years, and it is expected to have more than 6000 field data at the end of the project. Results from this project indicates that (i) 49% of the soybean area is sown under no-till system, been less dominant in peripheral regions, (ii) drainage systems covers 60% of the area, reaching 80 to 100% coverage in MN, IA, IL, OH and MI, (iii) average yield was 2.6 Mg/ha and despite soybean attainable-yield potential benchmark rounds 6 Mg/ha, only the 1.5% of producers achieve more than 5.4 Mg/ha, (iv) seeding rate averages 393000 seeds/ha for the whole region, having a progressive increase to the peripheral area, (v) 38 cm is the most widespread soybean row-spacing (50% of total area), except for NE and east IA which mostly have 76 cm, (vi) maturity group II and III are the most used soybean variety, representing 40 and 33% of the North Central soybean area, respectively. Results from this project allows to benchmark current soybean production, identify yield-limitation and improve resource-use efficiency.