70-Bu Beans In 40-In Rows

70-Bu Beans In 40-In Rows CROPS Miscellaneous 18-5-33 Quincy, Ill., soybean grower Jim Callahan has twice reached 70 bu. per acre yields in soybeans with beans grown on 30-in. rows so he's feeling no pressure to start drilling his crop in narrower rows. Callahan tried drilling beans into conventionally-tilled ground 14 years ago and then switched to ridge-tilled 30-in. rows. He says there wasn't enough yield difference to justify the cost of a drill and he saved more than enough money through ridge-tilling to pay for his ridge-till cultivator, which was the most expensive piece of equipment he had to buy in making the switch. "I've been farming long enough to see a lot of fads come and go," Callahan says, adding that he's open to new ways of doing things but only if they're cost effective. Even though the current fashion is to no-till drill beans, he likes that fact that ridges let him get in and plant earlier whenever there's a cool, wet spring. (Ridge Till Hotline, Brookfield, Wis.)

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