A good team, good weather, good products, and good timing- that’s what Georgia farmer Alex Harrell says it takes to reach 206.7 bushels per acre. Now, you might be thinking I’m talking about corn yield, but I’m not. Harrell is the new world record holder for soybean yield, with an average 206.7 bushels per acre!
“It’s not about a world record. It’s not about a magazine cover,” says Harrell. “I want to learn what happens on my farm in Lee County, Georgia. I don’t care what happens at a research farm in Iowa or Alabama or anywhere. I want to know what happens on my place.”
Harrell achieved the record with Asgrow® brand soybeans. He tells me there’s definitely no silver bullet to achieving high yields like this, but instead a lot of time and dedication to doing research on the farm to see what he can turn into a standard practice.
“We’re constantly doing these trials and tests… We run on a 3:1 ROI. I mean, if I spend $1, and it doesn’t give $3 back and I do that for three years running, it gets cut. I’m not just throwing everything out there to try to make a big number.”
Harrell has dozens of strip trials all over his farm and he encourages you to do the same.
If you’re not doing it on your farm, on your fields, your management style, you’re just shooting in the dark. So, dedicate a small percentage- if it’s 10 acres, 20 acres or 300 acres, whatever it may be- have a portion of your farm where you’re doing strip trials. I mean, these seed companies, they love to bring the weigh wagons out and compare things like that.
In addition to the Asgrow® brand soybeans, some of the products Harrell also used included Climate FieldView™, Roundup PowerMAX® 3 herbicide and XtendiMax® herbicide with VaporGrip® Technology.
