There was only standing room when Johnny Verell, Temple Rhodes, and Matt Miles took the stage at the 2025 Commodity Classic to discuss their success with early-planted soybeans. The three farmers have gained the attention of their peers as yield contest winners and share the products and practices that have most improved their farms’ ROIs through their teaching platform, XtremeAg.
Meet Successful Farmers
Jonny Verell accidentally found success when he started planting soybeans early on his Jackson, Tennessee, farm in the mid-2000s. “It was dry. We didn’t have any more corn to plant, so we just started planting soybeans.” Verell saw a huge yield response. At first, they thought good weather deserved the credit.
Now, it’s clear planting early was a major contributing factor to Verell’s success. Today, the farm aims to plant soybeans at the end of March or the first week of April, before corn planters are running.
Temple Rhodes farms in Maryland and was skeptical when he first heard of farmers to the south having success with early-planted soybeans. Rhodes credits Arkansas farmer, Matt Miles, for convincing him to give it a try.
Cotton and rice used to be Miles’ main crops, but when soybeans became profitable in 2006 and 2007, putting more effort into the crop delivered “tremendous results.” Miles began challenging himself to move the planting date up.
“I didn’t plant any beans before April 10, 10 years ago,” Miles said. Now, he’s planted as early as late February. How early is too early is still a question Miles is working to answer, but “planting in the March range, we’ve been able to increase soybean yield.”
How can planting soybeans early fit with other crops?
Miles said soybeans are a lot tougher than you think. In 2024, his farm had three frost events. “One of them I would consider a killing frost.” Miles said. Despite the cold, not even 5% of the beans were damaged, he said. The soybean can stay in the ground and be developing a root system long before it emerges.
Verell has seen similar resilience in soybeans on his farm. “We got to the point where we weren’t planting our corn so early,” he said. “Where we are, it could be 75°F today and two days later it will be 20°F. If the corn comes up and gets burned off several times we’re in trouble.”
Growing early soybeans isn’t as simple as pulling the planter out a few weeks early. What pre-season prep is necessary?
“Treat your seed,” said Rhodes. “I’m making sure that I have an extra treatment in the furrow with fungicide because I’m trying to do everything that I can to protect the plant.”
He added, “We know a lot of diseases live in your soil when it is cool and wet. We just planted into that environment.” With that knowledge, be proactive. “Proactive makes money, reactive loses money. You’ve got to get ahead of that curve.”
What special considerations do you need to take with burn down?
Verell said he learned his lesson with pre-emergent herbicide the hard way. After planting his soybeans early, they sprouted in three or four days. Then, the weather turned rainy and cold, turning the ground into a cement-like crust. The soybeans got stuck in a crook, unable to continue pushing through the hard soil.
“They sat there and the pre-emergence we put out actually started burning the beans and caused damage to the point most of the beans never overcame it,” Verell said.
Now, he doesn’t use a pre-emergent. As soon as the soybeans emerge, Verell sprays a post-emergent and works hard to keep the field clean from then on.
“When we’re pushing that planting window, especially in February or the first half of March, we’re not having that winter weed flush.” Miles added, “When you can get that bean growing, even under the ground, and not have that pre-emerge affecting it, it’s got a way better chance of coming out and making it.”
What is your planting date?
“People ask me what my planting date is and I ask them what the 15-day forecast is,” said Miles. If the 15–30-day forecast looks good, he’s not scared.
Two years ago, Miles’ early-planted soybeans emerged in nine days. He recalled, “Whoa. We’re in trouble now because I knew the weather following that was going to be tough.” His goal is to have the soybeans sit in the ground longer.
Miles recommended looking at the area’s last frost date. Aim for emergence after that.
For example, in Arkansas, March 16 is the last frost date. “We can go plant 5–10 days in front of that and we’ll probably stay out of the frost window,” Miles said.
What population adjustments do you make when planting soybeans early?
Similar to picking a planting date, Miles looks at the 15-day forecast to determine the appropriate population.
“Data shows that 70,000 or 80,000 is as good as 140,000, but you’ve got to get that 70,000–80,000 up,” he said. If he’s planting in front of adverse weather or into wetter soils, Miles increases the population.
“I’m going to put the right amount of seed out there the first time to guarantee a stand. It will be less, the later and warmer it gets. It will be more, the colder and more adverse it is,” Miles said.
How do you manage fertility differently for early-planted soybeans?
Be careful with soybean fertility, Rhodes advised. “If you push fertility too early, all you’re going to end up with is a great big plant. Everybody is going to drive by at 80 miles an hour and say, ‘Those beans are beautiful.’ And when you get done, somebody will ask, ‘What did you cut?’ You’re going to tell them 40, because I promise you that’s all you’re going to get.”
Getting too aggressive with fertility early will result in a leggy bean prone to lodging, the farmers warned.
Miles added, “Starting on the front end, just give them what they need. When they get into reproductive stage, R3, when they’re really putting on the pods, that is our most critical time when we’re going to put on foliars with our fungicide to pack the bushels and seed weight on.”
What mid- or late-season adjustments did you make with early-planted beans?
Verell warned, he’s made the mistake of irrigating too early. “We think it’s too hot, too dry. We start irrigating those beans and they get leggy. Those nodes get too far apart.” When the plant starts setting pods and getting heavy, it causes major issues.
The secret is to keep the plant small before reproduction, Rhodes adds. This can be accomplished by withholding water, applying chemical product, or environmental factors. The right amount of stress will establish more branching, a better root structure, and keep the plant at a height that can support lots of pods.
How did early soybeans change your farm’s machinery or labor needs?
“We did studies on the ROI and we were able to actually purchase an additional planter to plant soybeans, pay for the planter, pay for the man, and all the different inputs that go along with that just by the yield increase of planting early,” said Miles.
At harvest, it gets hard. Miles explained, he’s often harvesting corn, soybeans, and rice at the same time. “You can’t get tunnel vision,” he said.
Rhodes also harvests corn and soybeans at the same time, taking advantage of a second combine that would otherwise be sitting in the shed. “We usually have a really strong positive basis at that time for early beans. I can capture a market that I didn’t know I had while my combine would have been sitting in the shed.”
Rhodes challenged farmers that don’t have a second combine, “Let your corn dry down for a minute. Go cut those beans. Capitalize on that early market.”
Verell has changed his harvest habits as well. “Fifteen years ago, we didn’t want soybeans to be ready to come off until after we were done with corn.” Now, he harvests both at the same time. In fact, he will stop corn harvest to cut soybeans. “If you have a hurricane come in, high humidity, high temperature, those beans become a disaster in a hurry.”
