Shut out by sugar beets, tired of trifling grain prices and fed up with finicky special crops, farmers in southern Manitoba have pushed soybean acres from zero to about 6,000 this year.
For the farmers who planted this heat-hungry crop in the absence of experience and crop insurance, judgment day approaches.
“If we get a frost next week, soybean acreage will be back to zero next year,” predicted Les Kletke, agricultural representative with the provincial government in Altona, Man.
Several farmers grew the crop last year and had good luck with yields and even better luck with prices, which soared in the United States.
Read Also
Agriculture ministers agree to AgriStability changes
federal government proposed several months ago to increase the compensation rate from 80 to 90 per cent and double the maximum payment from $3 million to $6 million
So when Kletke held an information meeting this spring, expecting 25 farmers, he was overwhelmed when 80 showed up.
Most farmers tried 40 to 80 acres of the crop, said Kletke, and most of the acres are close to Altona.
Their hearts have been in their throats a couple of times this year. After heavy rains in early June, the soybeans turned a sickly shade of yellow.
It turned out to be a normal stage in the plant growth.
“We’re learning that’s when they’re making the transition from the inoculant to fixing their own nitrogen in the nodules,” said Kletke.
“But for first-time growers, it was a pretty difficult couple of days.”
In the early 1980s, Agriculture Canada’s research station at Morden had a breeding program for the crop. Research showed much of the southern third of the province had enough heat for the crop to mature.
But soybeans couldn’t compete with yields or prices at the time so interest fizzled.
Today, more farmers have row crop planters and floating cutter bars or flexible headers for combines from growing other crops, like edible beans.
There are more short-season soybean varieties, and they’re working out well in the northern United States.
In 1994, 640,000 acres were planted in North Dakota, where average yields are around 26 bushels per acre.
So far, prices look good. Farmers will sell their crop to crushers in the United States, Kletke said. If prices hold out, growing soybeans could work out to be the equivalent of growing 70 bushel-per-acre wheat.
Kletke said on average, farmers in Manitoba spend $200 per acre on inputs now, most of which comes due on Nov. 1.
“You need something where the potential is to net more than that,” he said. “At $3 (per bu.) wheat, you can’t do that.”
Management practices and handling are very similar to cereals, he said. “If it (the crop) does work, it’s so easy to handle,” he said. “This is a commodity crop, it’s not a specialty crop.”
But frost before harvest would likely kill current enthusiasm for soybeans, Kletke said.
