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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. This year, much of North Dakota is struggling with some form of drought. The South Central or Napoleon area is especially dry. Josh Becker, NDSU Logan County extension agent, says the soybeans are variable. Josh, how are the soybeans doing?
Josh Becker:Well, that's highly variable. I guess, you know, here we are at the beginning of August. Unfortunately, the discussion has certainly turned to drought and drought conditions and sort of everything that goes along with that. We were one of the few spots in North Dakota early in the season that we're getting some impactful rainfall, and that certainly helped for a time. But we certainly caught up, I think, with the rest of the state and are really struggling with our moisture. Basically shifted the entire conversation in my area, what to do, how do we manage this, how are the crops gonna respond if we do, in fact, get a significant rain. Until that happens, I think those are very difficult questions to answer.
Bruce Sundeen:What stage are the soybeans in?
Josh Becker:Well, I think that is also widely variable to kinda think back to the spring a little bit. We had kind of an unusual spring, so we were cool ish for quite a while, and we were kind of on the wet side. That was very challenging trying to get some of these crops in. Some of these soybeans, for example, went into some soil that was probably too wet. And then when you pull a roller over them, some of them were not emerging because when you roll them and it was wet, it crusted over, the sun came out. It made the soil very difficult. So there was some people that had to go back out and do some light tillage just to break up kind of the crust layer so these seeds could emerge. So you had those variabilities going on. And then throughout the year, even though on average, I would say we had more rain than most of the state, it was still widely variable in Logan County. So certain parts of the county had great first couple weeks. You know, germination was good. Everything's looking fine. Some of them were not. And then some of the other places that weren't germinating well got a bunch of rain, and it just went back and forth. So now I'm seeing, I think, at this stage, you know, like I said, we're in early August here. I would say anywhere from r two or three to r five or six depending on where you are. And some of the soybeans are probably as high as, let's say, my ankle. Some of them are chest high. It's all dependent on where you happen to be and the conditions you happen to experience. So just wide variability here this year. It's really something to see.
Bruce Sundeen:I would think drought dominates over other issues like disease.
Josh Becker:I haven't heard, like, a whole lot of issues with any major diseases. I know across the state, a lot of discussion of IDC issues in certain fields. At this point, sort of the conditions turning quite dry, unless you were really keyed into soybeans and pathology and things like that. I'm not even sure you would know what you're looking at just because of the the drought stress mimics so many different things out there that you don't really know. I don't envy the soybean growers for sure.
Bruce Sundeen:Josh, beyond getting rain, is there a next step? What can a farmer do?
Josh Becker:Well, if it doesn't rain, that's a great question. This is not the first time this has happened in history, obviously. I mean, it's dry. Don't get me wrong. But Extension certainly has some history going back a long time about sort of how to handle some of these. And I know we have some good people in in our plant science departments and in our extension people who are gonna start putting out kinda some recommendations, some publications, and things like that. And and that'll all filter through our office, and we'll communicate that as needed. It's a good question. I'm not sure what some of these people are gonna do. If there's no crop, I mean, do you till it under? Do you try and bail it? I mean, it's people are gonna be looking at some unique options, I think. Again, I don't envy them. It's gonna be a tough management decision year for sure.
Bruce Sundeen:Thanks, Josh. Our guest has been Josh Becker, NDSU Logan County extension agent. 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.