To help more farmers feel confident implementing conservation tillage systems, this project is investigating the interactions across soil types, starter fertilizer, tillage systems and row spacings and how they affect soybean growth, nutrient uptake, and seed yield and quality. The results will help farmers identify management practices that enable them to plant soybeans into heavy residue while preserving the crop’s yield potential.

• Some farmers are hesitant to try conservation tillage because they’re concerned it’ll reduce yield. Often no-till soils can take longer to warm up and dry out, which can delay planting or cause soybean seed to sit in an unfavorable soil environment. Crop residue can also tie up nutrients that the soybean crop needs for stand establishment and growth. However, conservation tillage is beneficial to soil health and water quality.

• Farmers will have more quantitative data about how conservation tillage impacts soybean growth, yield and seed quality.
• They will also gain a better understanding of other management practices they could deploy, such as starter fertilizer, to offset any potential yield drag caused by conservation tillage.
• By implementing conservation tillage across more of their acres, farmers will experience improvements to soil and water quality, while playing a leading role in sustainability efforts.

• Dr. Giovani Preza Fontes, Assistant Professor & Field Crops Extension Agronomist, UIUC
• Dr. Amir Sadeghpour, Associate Professor, SIU
• Kristin Greer, Senior Research Specialist, UIUC

• Piatt County
• St. Clair County
• Whiteside County

Dr. Giovani Preza Fontes
Assistant Professor & Field Crops Extension Agronomist
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC)
217-244-0541
giovani3@illinois.edu