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The NDSU Extension weekly podcast In the Pod: Soybean Updates delivers timely insights and expert advice on soybean production.
You're listening to In The Pod, soybean updates, a weekly trek into the latest soybean information from NDSU Extension. Many soybean farmers struggled with drought conditions this growing season, but now that's behind us. Let's find out what kind of effect the dry conditions have on this year's harvest and storage. Our guest today is Rob Proulx, an DSU extension agriculture technology systems specialist. Rob, how has the soybean crop changed because of the drought conditions we had earlier in the growing season?
Rob Proulx:When I first prepared to record this a few weeks ago, I was prepared to talk about how dry everything was and things to think about when you have an excessively dry soybean crop for both harvest and storage. Well, we're not really not really in that world anymore. We're about a third of the way through harvest and what's left might be encountering pretty normal conditions in terms of moisture content. So that really has changed what we need to think about when it comes to harvesting and storing those soybeans.
Bruce Sundeen:Because of the drought conditions, how has the soybean harvest changed?
Rob Proulx:So before when it was really dry, you're probably thinking more about, you know, these beans, are they going to be overdry? How do I manage harvest and storage of beans that are drier than I would like them to be? Now they've been re wetted most likely in the rain and they're not quite in that condition anymore. The harvest conditions are probably more consistent with a typical average soybean harvest. Maybe one thing to still think about however, is that those beans were likely subject to some drought conditions throughout the summer. They might be shorter than normal. The pods might be closer to the ground than normal. So minimizing harvest loss might be something to really pay attention to.
Bruce Sundeen:Rob, do the dry conditions affect the weight of the harvested beans?
Rob Proulx:Yes. You know, the first third of the soybeans that were coming off, if they were coming off really dry, farmers maybe be thinking about if they could recondition those soybeans in the bin. That's something that gets asked sometimes. And you cannot legally add water to the beans, but you can run your aeration fans when the humidity is high enough to increase the moisture content of those beans. There's quite a lot to think about in doing that well, you don't want to re wet the beans too much than they spoil, but there are NDSU resources out there specifically on that, especially the NDSU soybean production guide has more information about that process. If someone were interested in trying that. Why add moisture to the soybeans? So the reason why somebody would be thinking about adding moisture to the crop is that if your soybean moisture content is below the market standard, you're essentially leaving some money on the table. So the market standard is 13%. And if you are selling beans at 11% moisture, you're not selling that water weight along with them. So that's why farmers might be thinking of doing that.
Bruce Sundeen:Rob, once the soybeans are off the field, what's the storage situation?
Rob Proulx:I would anticipate that storage now, the soybeans coming off the field, that would be a fairly typical condition. If you have soybeans that are coming in at 11 to 13% moisture, they can be placed into ordinary storage bins with simple aeration systems. And then it's really a matter of cooling those beans if you're going to be storing them through the fall into the winter and perhaps beyond. So you would run your fans to cool them in 10 to 20 degree increments as the fall temperatures drop and then settling on a final temperature of 20 to 30 degrees Fahrenheit over winter. Hopefully there is good bin space out there right now, you know, comparing to last year at this time, there weren't a lot of soybeans moving according to the USDA, the basis was a dollar 35 under this time of year. So that indicates there really was not a lot of movement in the cash market of those soybeans. Now it's at about 62¢ under on average for North Dakota, according to the USDA. So things seem to be moving a little bit more than they were last year. And what that means for storage is that hopefully folks have their storage bins with aeration available, and they're not looking for alternative storage methods like they were last year.
Bruce Sundeen:Thanks, Rob! Our guest has been Rob Proulx, NDSU Extension agriculture technology systems specialist. You're listening to, In The Pod: Soybean Updates. A weekly trek into the latest soybean information from NDSU Extension. Supported by the North Dakota Soybean Council.