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Increase corn yields with the addition of wheat to your rotation

Follow this guide for planning your soybean crop prior to the wheat

By Patrick Lynch, CCA-ON
Farms.com

Depending on what research you look at, if you put wheat into your crop rotation you can increase corn yields by 10 to 20 bu/ac. (Indeed, I spoke with one grower this month who said on his farm there was a 20 bu/ac difference in a side-by-side comparison in 2016.)

If you believe this research, you need to plan now where you will plant wheat this fall. Once you have made this decision, you need to pick a soybean variety.

If the farm/field can be planted early, pick the best variety for that farm/field. If, for some reason, the farm/field will be planted later, then pick an earlier variety. You will give up yield on the soybeans but will have a corn yield increase the following year.

 

If you are in an area of 2,800 CHUs or more, you can consider double-cropping soybeans after the wheat crop. The total soybean yield over the two seasons will be greater than picking a long-season variety. In the latter case, you risk not getting wheat planted in a timely fashion this fall after the soybean harvest. 


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USDA took Trumps comments that China would buy more U.S. soybeans seriously and headline news that the U.S./China trade truce would be extended when Trump/Xi meet in the first week of April was a BIG WIN for soybeans this week! 2026 “Mini” U.S. ethanol boom thanks to 45Z + China’s ban of phosphates from Feb. – August of 2026 will not help lower fertilizer prices anytime soon! 30 mmt of Chinese corn harvest is of poor quality and maybe a technical breakout in wheat futures.

*Apologies! Where we talk about the latest CFTC update as of 10th Feb 2026, managed money funds covered their net short position in canola to the tune of +42,746 week-on-week to flip to net long 145 contracts and not (as we mistakenly said) +90,009 wk/wk to 47,408.