Weather dampened efforts to increase soybean acreage in southern Alberta last year, but that hasn’t discouraged one of the crop’s promoters.
Patrick Fabian of Fabian Seed Farms in Tilley, Alta., seeded 240 of the estimated 5,600 acres of soybeans grown in Alberta last year.
However, weather reduced his yields to 12 to 38 bushels per acre.
Other growers in the Lethbridge, Brooks and Grassy Lake areas had similar results. Normal yields in southern Alberta are 40 to 50 bu., said Fabian.
“It’s a year that I hope we never see again,” he said. “I’m glad we’re looking at it in the rearview mirror.”
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Soybeans like wet conditions, but they also require heat to thrive.
Despite the setback, Fabian hopes Alberta growers will plant 10,000 acres of soybeans this year and con-t inues to believe in the crop’s potential.
“They might be an option for growers who need to seed something that goes in a little later,” he said.
Fabian planted soybeans on June 30 last year because of the weather delays and was surprised when they almost reached maturity. That tells him the crop has more versatility than potential growers may realize.
At a soybean school held during Ag Expo in Lethbridge March 3, Fabian listed what he sees as the advantages of growing soybeans in Alberta’s irrigated south:
• soybeans can be planted using conventional seeding equipment such as air seeders, hoe drills, disc drills and planters;
• they can spread the workload for farmers growing other crops because they can be planted late and harvested late;
• they can be left standing for awhile after reaching maturity because they resist shattering and weathering;
• they will leave 30 to 50 pounds of nitrogen in the soil when double inoculated, which can reduce fertilizer costs for the next crop in a rotation;
• they are traded daily and easily marketed;
• seeding costs, which include terminal use agreements, inoculants, seed treatment and Roundup, are less than $130 per acre;
• Roundup Ready varieties allow easy weed control and good field cleanup for subsequent crops.
Fabian said he and other Alberta growers are learning as they go.
As well, crop insurance is difficult to obtain because soybeans are not widely grown in the region and thus lack statistics on average production and yield.
Manjula Bandara, a special crop researcher at Alberta Agriculture’s research station in Brooks, has applied for grant funding for trials this year to get those statistics.
Bandara said in an interview that if funding becomes available, he plans to research the irrigation needs of soybeans and their optimum row spacing and seeding rate.
“Our biggest challenge we are facing now is to get a suitable variety that can mature in less than 115 days.”
Marketing a crop from a non-traditional growing area can also be an issue.
Corny Van Dasselaar of Country Commodities Ltd. in Lethbridge said increased production would improve the options.
“We need some critical mass,” he told the soybean school.
“It’s the chicken and egg scenario.
We need to have a critical mass here as far as acres go so it becomes a dependable market.”
Van Dasselaar said a lack of processing capacity in Alberta limits marketing efforts.
“(But) whatever you grow, we’ve been able to find a home for it. We are working hard to get a contracting program for fall. We are encouraged by the acres that are committed already this year.”
For export sales, Van Dasselaar said Alberta has a freight advantage over Saskatchewan and Manitoba, which have significantly more soybean acres.
Kevin Elmy, a seed farmer from Saltcoats, Sask., said about a dozen soybean varieties are suited to Alberta’s climate.
Profitability depends on the same variables as other crops, he added.
Last year set a record for soybean production in Canada. At 4.3 million tonnes, growers harvested 24 percent more soybeans than in 2009, according to the Canadian Soybean Council.
