Harvest Strategies

I know you’re thinking this might be another repetitive article about basic, common sense information. But it’s that very mindset that increases the likelihood of farming accidents. Most accidents happen in the peak of the season when everyone is tired from the long days and little down time. Optimal weather conditions and daylight hours seem to be at a minimum and the time to get the year’s crop out shrinks as the year comes to a close. This issue is personal for me because I lost my grandfather in a combining accident this past December and it has forever [...]

With 2020 soybean harvest upon us, we are starting to see several fields turn yellow and soon the results of management practices and how a variety handled the season will be in. Yield is a weight number of how well a soybean managed itself during challenging environments and how efficiently it underwent photosynthesis. But yield is also an indication of how well we as agronomists and farmers managed a field and crop. Now is a great time to become a “student of the field” and learn as much as you can to improve management decisions for next year. Below [...]

This article originally appeared on FarmWeek Now. There’s no argument that 2020 has been a memorable year, but despite challenges, the soybean crop across the state looks promising. As we approach harvest, it’s important you are prepared to finish the season strong. Here are five tips for prepping for the 2020 soybean harvest. 1. Be proactive in getting technologies set and calibrated Yield monitors: Determine if software updates are necessary, preload your fields and review how to operate. Digital services: Make sure subscriptions and software are up to date. As-applied data: Make sure variety information is accurate and other as-applied [...]

For many, the arrival of September brings anticipation of school, fall sports, a variety of pumpkin flavored beverages and beautiful fall weather. In agriculture, September ushers in rapidly maturing crops and the culmination of the successes and disappointments of the 2020 season. Soybean fields beginning to turn color are an indication that harvest is fast approaching, yet yellowing or leaf senescence can be caused by a variety of agronomic issues in addition to being a natural maturation process. Let’s explore what causes soybean leaf senescence and how to identify some of the causes of premature leaf senescence. Pre-mature senescence [...]

In a typical growing season, most of the grower decisions that can affect the final yield of a soybean field have been made. This does not mean, however, that farmers should kick back and relax. Even though it may be more challenging to walk soybean fields in August than in June, there are still benefits to an effective late-season scouting strategy. Here are five tips that can be used to ensure that you collect and utilize information from the field to make wise decisions. 1. Take advantage of in-season imagery. The majority of growers now use some sort of [...]

As the 2020 planting season is upon us, it’s important to remember and check on the stored grain from fall 2019. A lot of the harvested grain from last fall is still being stored, awaiting more favorable market values. Both soybean and corn are at their best quality when going into a storage bin. It is critical to manage the quality from this point forward until the grain is moved to market. A lot of time is going to be spent over the next few months tending to the current and upcoming crop. However, it’s imperative to stay proactive [...]

With the 2019 growing season behind us, it’s time to look at crop production statistics for Illinois from last year. With an average yield of 54 bushels per acre and a total production of 532 million bushels of soybeans, Illinois growers overcame a challenging year to remain the leading soybean state in the nation in 2019. The prairie state planted 9.95 million acres and harvested 9.86 million. Some areas, particularly in northern Illinois, had terrible conditions during the planting window and many producers were not able to plant all the acres they intended. Thus, Illinois soybean planted acres were [...]

As the 2019 calendar year comes to an end, in many soybean regions, Illinois harvest still has a way to go. The below chart was sourced from the Nov. 10, 2019 USDA report and it shows harvest progress for Illinois and the surrounding states. In some fields, soybeans aren’t drying much, and with the cold front we’ve been experiencing, there’s little to no hope that additional moisture will be pulled out of the crop.  A lot of growers are trying to decide how to manage what’s left in the fields. It’s important to spend any allowable time to harvest [...]

This article was originally published in the November issue of Soy Perspectives magazine. The 2019 soybean harvest is a memorable one. Millions fewer bushels will be harvested by U.S. farmers following weather woes. But high stock numbers and muted key export trade partners are keeping a tight lid on prices. And soybean stocks stored on- and off-farm are expected to increase as a result, adding on to the U.S.’ billion bushel ending stocks projection for 2018-2019. “In central Illinois we have always dumped our beans in the fall and stored some of our corn. That switched last fall with [...]