Diversifying Soybean Production Risk Using Maturity Group and Planting Date

Due to the long growing season for soybean production, producers in the Mid-southern US can plant from late March to June. They also have a range of maturity group (MG) choices, affecting the length of the growing season, that are physiologically and economically viable. A producer’s decision of what to plant and when constitutes two potential decision variables that can be freely manipulated to not only maximize profit, but also reduce economic risk. Early maturing MG III and IV soybean cultivars planted early or mid-season typically are highest yielding and thereby the preferred choice of producers. However, planting part of a producer’s acreage at later dates and using later maturing MG VI soybeans may offer producers similar returns (as observed with early planting using early maturing cultivars) at a meaningfully reduced level of risk.