Farmers across the nation take pride in being the best stewards of their land. Advancements in technology and conservation allow soybean farmers to be more efficient and sustainable. Laurie Isley, United Soybean Board farmer-leader from Michigan and Communication & Education Committee Chair, says precision farming plays a role in the day-to-day practices of her farm.

“Precision farming allows us to use the data that we collect to make better decisions about the nutrients that we use so we can be more efficient in the choices that we make. And by having information from our soil tests as well as the information we collect for our planter, and at harvest time through our combine, we can take all of that data and then use that to make informed decisions about which nutrients we use, where we use them and how they’re applied.” 

Sandy soils in her area mean having a crop in the field all year long is important.

“So, the cover crops really allow us to do that. We fly those into our standing crop before harvest and then terminate them just before we go in and plant our crops. What we found is an increased water retention by having that root mass, as well as keeping those nutrients where we want them to be for our crop growth. In addition to that, we also have filter strips along all of our waterways, and we do strip-tillage with our corn and no-till/minimum-till with our soybeans. So, we really try to do as little disruption to our soil as possible.” 

Isley says the farmer-leaders of the soy checkoff work on behalf of all U.S. soybean farmers, investing in research, education and promotion, to fulfill the vision of delivering sustainable soy solutions to every life, every day.

“So, our focus on research to help farmers understand the better way to treat soils, but recognizing that there is a diversity of farming methods and soil types across the United States really allows us to come down to make that as specific as possible. And certainly the new program, Farmers for Soil Health, is designed also to have information on conservation and money for conservation practices to get to the farmers across the country in a way that is unique to their situation.” 

Keep up with the latest news from the United Soybean Board at unitedsoybean.org and Wednesday mornings at 10 a.m. Eastern on RFD-TV.