The 2022 growing season is nearly a year behind us, but its challenges have not escaped memory. While the year was drier than average, our MorCorn and MorSoy lineup still produced outstanding yields in all 14 locations from which we collected data. Presented here are results from last year’s yield trials at MFA research sites in Boonville, Mo., and just east of Columbia.

Both sites are on a corn-soybean rotation. In Boonville, corn plots were planted May 12, 2022, at a population of 32,500 seeds per acre, and soybeans were planted June 13 at a population of 140,000 seeds per acre. The corn was fertilized with SuperU at planting with 300 pounds of actual nitrogen per acre. Since this is a testing site, we push the nitrogen fertilization to attempt to eliminate the possibility of this nutrient being a limiting factor that affects yield. These research fields are located in the Missouri River bottoms, where the soil is well-drained silt loam.

At our research site east of Columbia, corn was planted on May 16 at a population of 32,500 seeds per acre, and soybeans were planted on June 16 at a population of 140,000 seeds per acre. The corn was fertilized with SuperU at 180 pounds of actual nitrogen per acre. This site is an average-yielding location situated on clay pan soils that are poorly drained.

The 2022 growing season presented many of the same weather challenges that we’ve seen so far this year. While both locations were dry, they were not excessively hot through the entire summer. Boonville began the season 2 inches behind on rainfall, whereas Columbia was near normal to start. However, both sites ended well below the average cumulative precipitation for the May to October time period. By the end of the season, our research site east of Columbia was 6.5 inches behind normal, with Boonville 12.2 inches behind. The lack of rainfall reduced disease pressure at both locations. Except for excessive heat during June in Boonville, . . .