Jonesboro farmer Kevin Hoke is one of the few growers
in the University of Arkansas' Soybean Research Verification
Program who has given no-till, irrigated doublecrop
soybeans a try. If his experience is any indicator,
drilling beans into the wheat straw may soon become
more popular.
Hoke says the grower checkoff-funded verification program
has given him the confidence to expand his no-till,
irrigated doublecrop acreage more than tenfold. "The
first year in the program, we had one 35-acre field
of no-till beans in the straw. This year I have a little
over 400 acres in the straw."
Richard Klerk, agronomist and SRVP coordinator for
the Cooperative Extension Service, University of Arkansas,
says, "This system has proven to be as profitable as
any of the production systems in the verification program."
Hoke conservatively estimates that he saves $30 to
$40 an acre by drilling his doublecrop soybeans directly
into the wheat straw.
"I would normally disk a field two or three times,
land-plane it a couple of times and then field cultivate
and plant. Now we go out there and just spray and plant.
"When you save five to six trips over a field, that's
something you can put a dollar amount on. You don't
put as many hours on a tractor, and you don't put as
many hours on the person out there trying to prepare
these fields."
Eric Grant, the Craighhead County extension agent who,
along with Klerk, checked Hoke's SRVP field each week,
says, "Instead of having to take the time to disk, land-plane
and field cultivate 300 acres, you can take one man
and one machine and do 600 acres. It's a more efficient
use of labor over more acres."
Hoke says he uses the same piece of equipment, a 20-foot
drill with a coulter caddy, to drill his no-till soybeans,
no-till rice, wheat and ultra narrow row cotton.
He believes no-tilling gives his fields an extra week
to 10 days of moisture. "The soil dries out every time
you make a pass."
Hoke says doublecropping in the wheat stubble also
helps hold moisture. "You're using the straw as a mulch.
And the straw helps build up the soil. I have very low
organic matter."
 Hoke
has seen evidence of less soil runoff thanks to no-till
production. "After you get a big rain, the water running
out of the bottom of the field is clear. On my conventional
fields, it's muddy silt."
Klerk says use of Roundup-Ready soybeans saved labor.
And carryover phosphorus and potassium from the wheat
crop reduced the crop's fertilizer needs. Hoke notes
that yields from his no-till, irrigated doublecrop acreage
have been comparable to those of his full-season conventional
fields. Three years ago, the SRVP field made 46 bushels
per acre. "That was better than most of my full-season
beans planted a month earlier.
"In 1998, we changed fields, used the same system,
and made 34 bushels per acre. The problem was rain.
We watered the field and it rained 5 inches."
In late July, when most parts of the state were suffering
through a severe drought, areas of Northeast Arkansas
received 15-20 inches of rain. "A lot of the counties
were declared disaster areas because of all the rain,"
says Grant.
So is there a drawback to no-till doublecrop soybean
production? To drilling into the wheat stubble left
by a stripper header?
"It's ugly farming," says Hoke. "But the pros far outweigh
the cons."
Hoke says the economic data generated by the Soybean
Research Verification Program have allowed him to compare
the various production systems. "The no-till practices
we've implemented on this farm have helped us improve
our bottom line."
Soybeans Today January 2000
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