Plenty of extremes Wet, cool weather delayed seeding and a hard frost in September damaged some crops
Yields of 29 bushels per acre produced an average soybean crop for Kevin Elmy this year.
The veteran soybean grower’s 650 acre crop near Saltcoats, Sask., likely outperformed many other producers as soybeans pushed into non-traditional regions this year.
Elmy, who had to use less-than-ideal varieties for Saskatchewan soil, said his major hurdle wasn’t necessarily the weather, but topography. Well-positioned fields performed, but soybeans in low-lying, flat spots took water damage and yielded below 15 bu. per acre.
Still, the farmer and seed retailer was skeptical of Agriculture Sask-atchewan’s average yield estimate of 12 bu. per acre, which was published last month in the ministry’s provincial crop report.
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“I’m not doubting that there’s some wrecks out there, but to say that the provincial average is 12, that would be hard to believe,” said Elmy.
Elmy said farmers to the north of him yielded 15 to 28 bu. per acre, although he was aware of poorer performing crops in the Regina area.
Statistics Canada has pegged the average soybean yield in Saskatchewan at 26 bu. per acre.
Yield numbers are bound to stir debate among farmers testing the crop and those skeptical of its performance. There was lots of buzz at wintertime meetings last year, and Saskatchewan farmers eventually seeded 275,000 acres to soybeans, up 115,00 acres from 2013, according to Statistics Canada.
Saskatchewan Agriculture’s yield projections are based on reports from more than 220 crop reporters.
Terry Bedard, an agrologist with Saskatchewan Agriculture, said the estimates contained in the crop report can be conservative.
“I suspect with soybeans, it’s probably, I guess, No. 1 because it’s new and No. 2, we probably don’t have a lot of crop reporters growing soybeans,” she said.
“I guess my usual response is if people are seeing it and don’t really like it, then maybe they could help us and sign up and be crop reporters so we can get better numbers.”
Soybean performance in Saskatchewan varied from one extreme to the other. Elmy said he’s heard reports of 30 and 40 bu. crops in the Humboldt area, while Travis Wiens of Annex Agro said farmers in the Milestone area harvested 12 to 20 bu. per acre.
“I think it’s a wake-up call as much as anything,” said Wiens, whose customers were second and third year soybean growers.
He said half of his orders were cancelled when wet, cool weather delayed seeding in spring.
Some growers in his area were still seeding soybeans in late May. All of the varieties listed in Saskatchewan’s Varieties of Grain Crops have days to maturity in excess of 120 days, which would have been a challenge in a tough year with a hard frost in September.
Heat units can also be a problem in a short season.
“It is a lot of risk with not necessarily a bunch of reward,” said Wiens.
“We’ve always cautioned them. On a gross margin basis, I’m not sure soybeans are going to be your best paying crop, but we do believe that guys need to take some time and learn how to grow them.”
He said new varieties will improve crop performance in the future, but farmers also need to fine-tune their agronomic package. Heavy, wet clay soil tests the crop, and tillage and starter phosphorus are possible solutions.
“We still have growers who are booking soybeans, maybe not as many acres … and probably with more intention to focus on how do we get up to 30, 35 bu. yields consistently,” he said. “We know we can do that, but we need to learn those nuances and what works specifically in our geography.”
Elmy tells his customers to budget for average yields over several years of 25 bu. per acre. He said bad weather and “shaky agronomy,” including rotations, affected performance this year.
“When people started growing canola, when they started growing peas, any of these new crops 25, 30 years ago, yeah, there are hiccups,” he said. “As we go along, the soybeans are going to take a foothold.”
- In wet soils, pathogens such as Pythium species, Rhizoctonia solani and Fusarium oxysporum can cause root rot in soybeans, which leads to yield loss. Registered seed treatments and use of resistant varieties are recommended.
- Sclerotinia sclerotiorum or white mould may infect soybeans, especially in wet years. Initially, flower petals are infected and the disease eventually affects the stem and pods killing the top of the plant. Rotations with non-host crops might reduce the incidence but many crops and weeds are hosts to this disease. Closely spaced plants that form a canopy quickly, early in the season are at increased risk.
- Powdery mildew is a potential problem in cool years, but will generally only cause yield reduction if it occurs in July.
