Blog

The 2017 season presented some interesting challenges and insights into better management.

This has been one incredibly, terribly frustrating year for both producers and retailers. As we move heavily into harvest, we must reflect on this past season. Mostly to remember the reasons we are seeing what we are seeing in our fields and then, ultimately, to try to forget.

First, the wet weather played a huge role in our harvested bushels. Soybeans do not like wet feet. Many of the fields I visited this harvest had some areas when seeds or seedlings sat in moisture for extended periods. This created yield loss and you can see the affected areas as you drive across the field.

Second, weed control played a part in our yield. The fields that were well-managed by applying a pre-emerge early, followed by another residual with either Roundup^® or Liberty^®, and then possibly a third application, were the big winners in yield gain.

Otherwise, weed seed banks in the soil were loaded up with so many seeds some areas weren’t even harvested. Spots in fields were hard to combine because weeds were too hard to get through, resulting in plugged combines and very little yield in those areas.

Third was the dry weather we received in August and September. We all know August rains make grain in soybeans. This dry period seemed to cut the yields, especially if the planting date was later in the season. The earlier planted soybeans seem to have weathered the dry spell much better.

Another piece in this soybean puzzle is fungicide. The soybeans that had fungicide applied seemed to be much healthier and have better yields than those that did not. However, this is kind of a two-edged sword, because those same fields remained green longer this fall and were extremely hard to cut.

Those same fields I spoke of earlier that sat in moisture for extended periods of time also started to grow again after soil moisture levels declined and oxygen returned. I have seen a little of this happen prior to this year, but this year it seems to have occurred in almost every field. I recently walked in a field that recovered as I described—the leaves and stems are still intact and green, and the beans are the size and color of lima beans.

We could use a fall frost at this point to terminate the plants so maturity and dry down will commence.

So, in a nutshell, this pretty well sums up this past season. Let’s hope for a better 2018.

 Dawn Kielsmeier is an agronomy sales specialist with Pearl City Elevator in Baileyville, Ill. She has a B.S. in dairy science and an M.S. in agronomy, both from the University of Illinois and has been a CCA since 1993. She is a 2017 Illinois Soybean Association CCA Soy Envoy.