The educational materials listed on this page are about Soybeans.
Agronomic crops are field crops such as corn, soybeans, wheat and other grains. Soybeans are an important crop for both livestock feed and human consumption. Growing soybeans involves understanding soybean growth stages, the soybean market and production factors such as soybean yield per acre. Soybean farming can be a very profitable enterprise when a producer has enough acreage, the ability to increase soil fertility and a strong understanding of what it takes to increase the average soybean yield per acre. Although a producer has little control over the average soybean price per bushel that the market sets, a number of marketing strategies can be used to increase profit margins, while many production practices and overall soil management can improve the soybean crop in most soybean production systems. Key practices include agronomic, soybeans, cropping systems, cover crops, crop rotation, fertilizers, crop improvement and selection, physical control, soil management.
SARE’s Crop Rotation on Organic Farms A Planning Manual is a resource for farmers looking to integrate crop rotation into their operation to enhance organic matter and boost production. The Cover Crop Topic Room is a good starting point to learn about the benefits that cover crops can have on soil fertility to improve yield. A key resource to understanding the critical relationship between soil and crop is SARE’s widely used book, Building Soils for Better Crops. This book lays the foundation for understanding soil structure, soil fertility, and overall soil management.
Dryland Cover Cropping Boosts Yields
Every drop of water counts for farmers who practice dryland cultivation, a practice that relies on rainfall without the benefit of irrigation. So, when it comes to incorporating cover crops into a dryland rotation, many farmers hesitate, wondering: “How much moisture is the cover crop going to demand, and will I pay for it later […]
Managing Field Operations to Reduce Energy Costs Webinar
This webinar makes the case for using minimum tillage, timely routine tractor maintenance, crop rotations with legumes and shorter maturity corn to reduce drying costs.
Cover Crops and No-Till Management for Organic Systems
This Rodale Institute fact sheet reviews the use of cover crops and no-till in organic systems, including selection, establishment and mechanical termination of cover crops; crop rotations; and energy and production budgets.
Experimental Farm Helps North Carolina Farmers
Specialty crop farmer Alex Hitt hesitated when a team of scientists asked him to help launch a research project. Designed to test sustainable practices under the same skies and soil conditions as North Carolina’s working farms, the 2,100-acre experimental farm would truly be a long-term commitment. Major results couldn’t be expected for about seven years. […]
Adding Cover Crops to a No-Till System
South Dakota farm manager Dan Forgey has improved soil quality and the bottom line by successfully introducing cover crops to his long-term no-till system.
Growing Cover Crops with a Cash Crop
Dan Forgey describes how he grows cover crop mixes in synch with a cash crop of corn, and gets strong yields without chemical fertilizer.
No-Till Farmer: Steward of the Land
Dan Forgey has farmed for 40 years based on the belief that if you take care of the land, it will take care of you, evidenced by his commitment to no-till, cover crops and crop diversity.
Controlling Saline Seeps
A fact sheet on the causes and techniques for managing saline seep, also known as alkali spots or slick spots.
Clean Energy Farming
Clean Energy Farming: Cutting Costs, Improving Efficiencies, Harnessing Renewables features innovative SARE-funded research and examples of farmers who are improving energy efficiency while saving money, implementing farming practices that both save energy and protect natural resources, and producing and using renewable fuels.
Managing Cover Crops Profitably, 3rd Edition
Managing Cover Crops Profitably explores how and why cover crops work and provides all the information needed to build cover crops into any farming operation.
Manage Insects on Your Farm
While every farming system is unique, the principles of ecological pest management apply universally. Manage Insects on Your Farm highlights ecological strategies that improve your farm’s natural defenses and encourage beneficial insects to attack your worst pests.
The New American Farmer, 2nd Edition
Hailing from small vegetable farms, cattle ranches and grain farms covering thousands of acres, the producers in The New American Farmer, 2nd edition have embraced new sustainable approaches to agriculture.
Diversifying Cropping Systems
This bulletin describes some of the many agronomic crop alternatives to use in rotations, with plentiful examples of on-farm successes.
Steel in the Field
Weed control demands time, labor and expense for every farmer every year. Steel in the Field shows how today's implements and techniques can control weeds while reducing—or eliminating—herbicides. Available only online.