I work part time for Nass. July, August, and September is the time frame for objective soybean yield surveys. Part of the procedure involves taking stand counts and then later picking the pods from a 3 foot section of the row. I have noticed beans planted with a drill or air seeder have beans spaced close together and a little farther apart. There are healthy nice sized plants with good branches and nodes. Next to them are plants that are spindly with very little to no branching.

Does this equate a yield penalty? I do not know. The beans planted with Kinze brush meters or Deere radial meters are very uniform in spacing and similar numbers of branches, nodes, and pods per plant. Does result in increased yield. Again, I do not know.

Just my observations for what it is worth.  Jim