Manitoba’s soybean harvest is just underway, and yields will likely be average, says a provincial crop production adviser.
Dennis Lange, a Manitoba Agriculture soybean expert, said a small percentage of the 1.3 million acres in the province have been combined, but yields will likely average 30 to 33 bushels per acre.
“On average, we’re probably going to be in that 32 range, based on the growing season and based on other crops,” Lange said from his office in Altona, Man., noting that edible bean yields are average this year.
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“One of the first (soybean) fields coming off here … was in the low 30s. I’m hearing lots of numbers between 30 and 40.”
If Lange’s prediction is correct, soybean yields will be down significantly from 2013, when the Manitoba average was 38 bu. per acre. In 2012, soybeans averaged approximately 35 bu. per acre in Manitoba.
Adverse weather conditions slashed yield potential this year. A cool, wet spring was followed by dry conditions in early August, when soybeans desperately need rain to bolster seed set and pod development.
In another strike against yield, frost hit parts of Manitoba in the second week of September.
The temperature dropped to minus 1.5 C in Brandon Sept. 15.
Lionel Kaskiw, Manitoba Agriculture rep in Souris, Man., said the frost probably affected a portion of the soybean crop.
A spell of hot weather this week, with temperatures above 25 C, should propel soybeans to maturity.
However, western Manitoba beans won’t be harvested until October, Lange said.
“If you look at the seed guide (for) any of those ratings of days to maturity, that would be from day of planting to 95 percent brown pod,” he said. “Which still means 10 to 14 days on top of that (until) harvest.”
