Why farmers are betting on the future
Changes in row spacing and parallel trends with regard to the machinery equipment - things that are not just happening in the USA. Michael Horsch explains how and why row spacing is changing in soya cultivation and what this means for the farmers.
In July, Michael Horsch had the opportunity to talk to Harry Stine, a renowned soya expert and breeder, in Iowa. “He is an absolute expert on soya plants,” he says. “Stine has been involved in soya breeding all his life and has developed varieties that are indispensable today.”
One of the first questions Michael Horsch asked the “guru of soya breeding” was whether the singulation of soya was of any benefit. The answer was unequivocal: “He clearly said no. It may look good, but it doesn't achieve any recognisable yield advantage.” Stine said that row spacing is more relevant depending on the site and the plant variety.
Changing the row spacing
In the USA, a row spacing of 50 cm (20 inches) has established itself for soya in recent years. This allows for sowing maize and soya with the same single grain seed drill. “Some also sow soya with 37.5 cm (15 inches),” Michael Horsch says. In this case, for maize, every second body is lifted to sow it with 75 cm (30 inches). The big trend in the Corn Belt, however, was 50 cm.
‘We are currently observing interesting developments particularly on larger farms. A row spacing of 50 cm is not optimal for maize from a technical point of view, and from an arable point of view, there is only a little increase in yield from 75 to 50 cm. This is why many farmers say: “We are going back to 75 cm and 24 rows in order to harvest two 12 rows resp. to 48 rows and 75 cm in order to harvest three 16 rows. This makes the system of header and seed drill simpler and when sowing and combining, the focus is once again more on performance and efficiency. With regard to yield, there would only be minor disadvantages, if any.” However, with this row spacing it would no longer be possible to use the machine for sowing soya as both crops were previously sown with the same machine with the smaller row spacing.
Following up on this development, the following becomes evident: “Ten to 15 years ago, maize was sown first in April and then soya beans, sometimes depending on the variety, were sown at a warmer time in May.” Thus, it was possible to sow both crops with one seed drill. “The new varieties sometimes even allow for sowing both crops at the same time or even soya before maize. This requires that we change our way of thinking.”
For many farms, the optimum seeding window that becomes smaller and smaller means that they need a second seed drill to be able to work in parallel. “For many farms, this seems to be resulting in a new strategy: on the one hand, to work with wider (75 cm), even more efficient precision seed drills in maize and, on the other hand, to bring a second seed drill into the farm just for soya beans,” Michael Horsch explains.
“Harry Stine also confirmed that in the sector of variety development they initially had focussed on a 50-cm-row. However, they realised that with the varieties that are currently on the market or coming onto the market a small increase in yield was still possible if you sow more narrowly. 25 cm (10 inches) seem to be the new optimum for soya. Provided that the placement is perfect.”
This is why some larger farms tend to sow maize with 75 cm (30 inches) and no longer rely on a precision seed drill as a second machine for soya. “Single grain for soya is a nice-to-have, but not a requirement,” Michael Horsch says. “This is where our 1-row Avatar which we originally developed for the direct seeding of cereals comes in.” Currently, the demand for this machine is high on high-yielding sites in the USA. The Avatar is easy to use, the horsepower requirement is low, and the placement is extremely precise. “The development towards smaller row spacings makes the Avatar perfect for soya.” The large seed hopper provides additional efficiency for a timely sowing, especially with soya beans.
Parallel trends in maize
“There's no substitute for perfect weather. We see this again this year with the maize yields in the USA,” Michael Horsch summarises. Rob Rudolphi from the HORSCH Product Management in the USA adds: ‘We harvested 5-10% more than average this year in the central Corn Belt. 2024 proved interesting as there was little variation between practices and land quality. For example, farms with various sensors, gadgets, and intensive fertiliser strategies experienced the same yield outcomes as those with a very simple, basic approach. However, hybrid selection and disease management proved paramount. In the end, optimal weather during the growing season provided everyone with a largely favourable result.”
In the single grain market, two fundamentally different approaches have become apparent. Small and medium-sized farms which can always use the optimum time window for seeding due to their acreage, rely on increasingly complex, technically sophisticated machines. With additional equipment on the row and a wide variety of nutrient placement technology, they try to further maximise the yield potential.
The challenge for larger farms almost always is to find the time window for perfect seeding for as many fields as possible. This requires machines with a high work rate. “In practice, we need even larger, more powerful machines to be able to sow as many hectares as possible in an optimum way,” Michael Horsch emphasises. “Larger working widths, simpler technology and machines that are not too heavy so that they do not compact the soil too much when sowing in wet resp. damp conditions, but always with a high focus on placement quality - this is what the second pillar of the market looks like today.”
The parallel trends are reflected in many places: “Whether in the USA, Brazil or Ukraine – we notice this everywhere and we have to do it justice. Where it makes sense, we have to build machines with even larger working widths, simplify technology and concentrate on the essentials. This is an important factor if we are in the optimum time window. Around this time window, we can achieve even more with complex, highly equipped machines. We have to increase the potential of these machines. And we have to deal with these two parallel trends in equal measure,” Michael Horsch says.
A bet on the future
“We also notice these developments here in Europe, especially at times when rents continue to rise worldwide.” This makes farmers invest increasingly in the future as Michael Horsch explains: “A high rent is nothing else than a bet on the future and more and more farmers are betting on the future. But why are they prepared to pay high prices even if cereal prices are not particularly high? In my opinion, the bet is justified because we will see cereal price explode more and more often which will make this bet pay off.”
Those who pay high rents ultimately have to cultivate more land and grow faster so that it pays off at the end of the day. Therefore, farmers have to attach major importance to the essentials: sowing a lot of land perfectly in a short time to make the best possible use of ideal conditions for sowing in order to achieve high yields and not getting bogged down in logistics, for example.”
Significance for soya
The yield performance of the individual plant is often already extremely exhausted. In principle, a yield increase is possible if the population density is increased. However, there is no room for these additional plants in the 50-cm-row (20-inch) as otherwise the competition in the row would increase too much. “If we look at this contradiction, the result is to use the 25-cm row. With half the row spacing, additional plants per m2 can be well distributed. The prerequisite is perfect placement and embedding for safe and even emergence,” Michael Horsch points out.
Soya is very thermophilic. The only rain that counts is during the blooming period from mid-July to the beginning of August. “If it rains at this time, the prospects for high yields are good.” Moreover, soya can cope very well with extreme amounts of rain. This is why it is so popular in South America. We currently observe this in Brazil with 2,000 mm of rainfall. Soya can compensate for many extreme events, including heat, as long as the rain comes during the blooming period. If this is not the case, the compensation is also poor.
“In Central and South-East Europe, the yield risk for summer crops has increased dramatically in recent years. Especially in dry years, winter crops which were able to generate yields from autumn and winter precipitation were much more reliable. Soya is not the best choice for sites with severe early summer and summer drought and low water holding capacity. Though it copes comparatively better with heat than maize, it requires a lot of water at the right time,” Michael Horsch explains.