Jeremy Ross isn’t expecting Arkansas’ soybean harvest to be a quick affair.
“This soybean harvest is going to be long due to the late-planted soybean fields we have this year,” Ross, extension soybean agronomist for the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture, said recently. “There could be some Christmas soybeans harvested with how late some of these fields were planted.”
Heavy rain and flooding in April forced some soybean farmers to the sidelines, waiting for fields to drain and dry enough to get their planters out.
The harvest to date hasn’t inspired any big excitement.
“Reports on the fields harvested so far have been average to below-average on yield,” he said. “I’m hoping yields get better once we get away from the March-planted crop that went through the 10-12 inches of rain we had the first of April.”
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
Ross said soybean growers “just need mild weather for the next few months.”
“The last thing we need is a hurricane to blow in and cause some problems,” he said.
In the crop progress report the week of Aug. 21, the National Agricultural Statistics Service said 96% of soybeans had set pods, compared to 95% last year and the 92% five-year average.
On Aug. 12, the U.S. Department of Agriculture forecast record soybean yields for the U.S. The forecast of soybean harvested acreage was reduced by 2.4 million acres from the July report to a total of 80.1 million acres. The U.S. average yield is forecast at a record 53.6 bushels, above the average pre-report trade guess of 52.9 bushels.
For Arkansas, USDA was projecting a potential new record yield of 56 bushels per acre vs. 55 bushels per acre last year.
To learn about extension programs in Arkansas, contact your local Cooperative Extension Service agent or visit www.uaex.uada.edu.
Mary Hightower is with the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture.