Curt Burns: Soybean harvest report from the field
Good day and welcome to the University of Minnesota Extension podcast, University of Minnesota crop cast. I'm one of your hosts Dave Nicolai with University of Minnesota. I'm an Extension educator in field crops and I'm here along with my co host Doctor. Seth Nave. Seth is Extension Soybean Specialist here at the University of Minnesota and on the line, I guess on the tractor, this morning we have our special guest, independent crop consultant, Kurt Burns off from the Sibley County area.
Speaker 1:And and Kurt, you're, you're finishing up here. I may I assume maybe have finished up, soybean harvest, but a lot of the clientele you work with, have done the same. So give us a little bit of overview. How did how did this, how did this year go, especially this fall? And maybe most important, obviously, everybody wants to talk about how are the yields.
Speaker 1:So
Speaker 2:Well, right now, guys, between in my area, Sibley, Renville, McLeod, Meeker, Nicollet County areas, I would say the the excessive rainfall, especially between the two highways, between highway 212 and Highway 19, all the way from southern tip of Renville County, all the way through Sibley County and Southern McLeod, got hit worst with the excessive rainfall this year. A lot of 35 to 40 inches of rain for the growing season in that area. And so that whole, excessive rainfall amount affected yields greatly. A lot of drowned out, a lot of 10 to 25 percent drowned out. And, some replanting was done, but obviously, the replants never yield as what the the normal crop does.
Speaker 2:So yields have been very, I'd say, average to below average where the excessive rainfall events happened. And especially the Father's Day weekend rain event where we had anywhere between 8 10 inches of rain over that weekend period. And, that really affected the the yield potential in the area that got hit the worst. You get
Speaker 3:go ahead. Yeah. Just, just curious about, you know, break splitting this out a little bit more. So those, you know, the drown out spouts, spouts you you bring into that overall yield calculation, How did those soybeans do around those drown out spouts where they, you know, where they were saturated all year? I assume that's
Speaker 2:the most complaint I had this fall with guys texting me and calling me was that the stands got thinned real bad. Really, I mean, we're talking probably 50, 60,000 plants per acre, and a lot of those areas around the drowned out just because of Rhizoctonia, Pithium, Phytophthora. A lot of side hills and hills got hit bad with Phytophthora. So the stands got really reduced this year because of the excessive soil moisture. And so I think a lot of yield reductions in the areas that did not drowned out had to do with plant population this year.
Speaker 2:I just think that the root rots really did a number on the soybean plants this year with the excessive rain.
Speaker 1:Let's go back and talk a little bit about the better fields and maybe work our way around that. But if you were to, I I suppose, an average or put a number on some of the fields that you would consider, you know, higher or average and so forth, what kind of numbers are we looking at in terms of bushel per acre?
Speaker 2:Right now, I've heard of, you know, generally, you know, and especially when I get north of 212 and I get in Northern Renville County, Northern McLeod County, into Canyon U High County, there's a lot of 60 to 65 bushel soybeans. Longer rotations, Even in the areas that we had excessive rainfall, the longer rotations with a 3 to 4 year corn on corn or sweet corn in there definitely had a 10 bushel advantage over the areas of corn on soybean rotation. So, generally, that's what we're taught. I didn't hear a lot of seventies in this year this year in this area this year, but a lot of 60 to 65 where the where the areas were a lot better.
Speaker 3:You know, you you didn't mention drainage at all. So I what I'm reading between the lines is that those well drained the guys that had really good pattern tight pattern tile, in those heavy rain areas, they they still were overwhelmed by rain. And so, they were just they were just saturated all all year. Right?
Speaker 2:Yeah. And and the issue is that the water system was full. All the watersheds were full draining into the Minnesota River, and and they they stayed full. So the tile lines during especially after Father's Day weekend, those tile lines stayed full even if it was pattern tiled for a good 10 days to 2 weeks because the the water was could not get away because the systems were full. The whole area was flooded.
Speaker 2:And so it didn't matter if you had pattern tile or not, that it just was too much too much water, too too short a time with too much water.
Speaker 3:So let's let's go to the end of the year and this dry period that we had at the end. What, you know, what do you think about the impact of that? Do you think yeah. I haven't heard you mention it. I'd it sounds like maybe you're really driving towards the early part of
Speaker 2:the year. We're really dry right now. The tile lines are not running. It's it's just unreal how that's switched to a full, 180 degree turn here. I would say it impacted seed size this fall with not having any rain in September.
Speaker 2:It it affected test weight. It just didn't get that natural maturation time to to naturally, form that seed size to get a bigger seed size. And and then with no rain and no dews in the morning, the moisture content of the soybeans just dropped like a rock. They went from, you know, 13% to 8% within 2 days, and they've stayed there. So, generally, we lost a lot of yield potential with the weight of the of being too dry and then also the seed size.
Speaker 1:Was was there a harvesting challenges, you know, with that kind of a situation, being that dry and that small in in terms of loss in the field or other considerations?
Speaker 2:Yeah. I would say right now, as I'm working my my bean ground right now, I would say that I probably lost more to shatter and to, to sickle, loss because of the dry conditions. You know, you could start harvesting at 8:30 in the morning. There was no dues or anything, the last 2 weeks. And so it just, those beans never got rewetted at all to to get some moisture back in them.
Speaker 2:So very a lot of, I would say, a harvest loss on that aspect of things.
Speaker 3:Yeah. You add, you know, you add 2, 3, 4 bushel to harvest, harvest losses, and then you add another, you know, 3 bushel on for just being below 13%. I mean, you're you're taking a pretty big hit right there just just on being on being too dry at the end, just on that one one small issue that we just got too dry at the end, and you've already lost 6 bushel out there.
Speaker 2:That's right. That is correct. And and I think that's why, you know, people are very disappointed about soybeans this year, but I yields this year. But I think it's I think that you hit it on the nail, Seth. It's just too dry for too long a period down in the September time frame in October, and that really affected yield big time.
Speaker 3:You know? And if you if you think about it from a mental you know, from a psychological standpoint,
Speaker 2:if you're if just assuming that we have
Speaker 3:this 6 bushel yield loss, which is a totally made up number by me, you know, if we had a 65 bushel field that would have gone 71, I think the the 70 ones would have made folks pretty happy.
Speaker 2:That's right.
Speaker 3:They're just not very thrilled with 65.
Speaker 2:That's exactly right. And I'm hearing a lot of, you know, 30 to 45. I mean, for me, I averaged 46 after I just got the replanted soybeans harvest here a couple days ago. And and, you know, that doesn't that doesn't pay the bills. I'm on a corn soybean rotation, and a lot of my growers are, but I do have a lot of growers that are on the longer rotation.
Speaker 2:And I think right now as people are talking to me this fall, they definitely are thinking about trying to go to a little longer rotation with the soybeans so that they can try to get a little bigger yield there. And I've we've seen it, you know, 3 to 4 years out of soybeans, you get a 10 bushel advantage to it, and that means more corn on corn, which is a challenge also. But, the soybean yield definitely is affected by, longer rotation.
Speaker 1:You know, one of the other things that that obviously you're involved with besides when you're not on the tractor right now, Curt, is that in your other profession here of a crop consultant, what are the challenges right now when you think about soil sampling for their nutrients or or checking up on SCN or other types of things and situations with that, what are the things that, you know, we need to keep in mind I guess in in terms of that or do we, we wait it out for the next rain? I mean, what's your strategy at this point?
Speaker 2:You make a really good point, and it's all about potassium right now as dry as soils that we have. And that that, the potassium gets locked up on the clay particles, and and it does not release until you get good moisture to let that release. And and so we do generally about 80 to 90% of our soil sampling in the month of May June. And it's not just because of workload, but it's also because we generally have good moisture to have, good good data coming out of our our soil tests. And right now, when you have these extreme dry conditions, you're generally gonna get lower potassium levels with these, dry conditions.
Speaker 2:And once you get a rain, that can release back off the clay particle and and give you a higher soil test. And and with economics right now of high fertilizer prices and lower yields and lower commodity prices, generally, I'm trying to hold off on some of the soil testing a little bit until we can at least maybe try to get a half inch of rain out of here. But, you know, time keeps clicking away and, you know, that's the 10th, 11th October, and we wanna kinda get our work done. So for me, it's a hard thing to to go out and spend growers' money right now and try to get a good soil test because I'm not confident in the data.
Speaker 1:Well, certainly there are some other things that are that are occurring for a lot of growers. I would imagine that in a lot of your farmers that they probably finished up on soybean harvest, were a high percentage, across across the state. So of course the next thing that pops up probably is one of their favorite people coming down the road and that is maybe their seed seller or their agronomist, whoever it might be, or somebody that's handling it from a seed sales standpoint. They have these programs that are early on you know for the fall and in getting ready for for next year. So in that kind of a situation there's a financial incentive oftentimes for early booking.
Speaker 1:What are some things that that you think you will we've learned this year and and how would you recommend growers approach these opportunities for that and it does water into a little bit on variety selection here as well. So all of those things come into their, bid in terms of that, but there's also a financial incentive to, make some of these decisions, sometimes even earlier than we're normally used to.
Speaker 2:I think, Dave, you make a great point about this that when, you know, you're sometimes the growers are most vulnerable at harvest time because you're tired, you're working long hours, and you don't think things through well. You kinda look at what just happened to you and you don't look at the big picture. And for me, personally, that happened to me on a variety this year that I kinda went by the whim last year because it it had a good good plot data, but it kinda failed for a lot of us growers out here this year in the soybean end of things. And so I'm trying to tell growers and myself that you need to step back a little bit. Even if there's a financial advantage to to book now, I think there's a time to look at data, and that's in November December, not when you're busy in the tractor and combine right now and and working 18 hours a day.
Speaker 2:I I really think that a person has to say, hey, if you want my business, let me give me some time to take take a look at things, evaluate my yield maps, evaluate the data that's gonna keep coming in, and, don't rush things. Because I do think on the soybean end of things, we really gotta look at the whole disease package thing. This year, a lot of sudden death syndrome happened. I think cyst nematode is our biggest yield robber out there right now, and we really gotta do more testing on SCN, and we gotta look at peking varieties. We gotta look at longer rotations.
Speaker 2:And it takes time to do that, and I don't think being busy working the time the hours that we're working right now are are good decision making times.
Speaker 3:Yeah. I I guess I'd like to throw a a thought in here for you and see how you react to this. But I I guess I, you know, I think we're all, we're all optimistic, and we wanna buy these new varieties that have nice yield potentials. And we know that we're getting a couple percentage point increases on yield each year. So, you know, there should be or at least 1% yield increase each year.
Speaker 3:So just by just by buying a new variety, we should get a yield bump out of it. On the other hand, you know, there's downside risk to to those newer varieties as we don't have we don't have very good, there's not a lot of history with those. And so I tend to think that, you know, farmers just have to really look at this and consider that the upside risk is the upside potential is relatively small, but there's significant downside risk. And it's it's how they wanna approach it, of course, and it's it's all based on their risk management. But it it I think a year like this where we did see such variability out there out there and there's some some varieties that did do very well and some that did really terribly, it's a good reminder for folks that they need to be a little bit more cautious and maybe maybe go for some of those just good, steady, varieties that are just that that always produce good for us.
Speaker 2:I agree with you, Seth. I think that's the been the frustration with a lot of us growers right now that you get a variety that you're satisfied with. I know a couple years ago, I had a really good variety that I was very satisfied with, And it had a little bit more issues with white mold, but you could manage that. You could you could just spray your fungicide a couple of trips, or you could put it on farms that didn't have the white mold potential, but then they take it out of their lineup. And and it it was really good on iron chlorosis, it had good SDS scores, and yet they're coming with something new all the time.
Speaker 2:And yet you were that grower was satisfied with that variety because it was kind of the steady eddy type of variety that that worked for our soils. And and I agree with you a 100%. I think sometimes the the best and brand is new coming out of that bag is maybe not always the best choice to make for your farm.
Speaker 3:Yeah. And, unfortunately, we just don't see any of those, like, the 17 30 threes of of the old of the old. Right? So I know exactly what
Speaker 2:That's the number that comes up all the time in our area. 1733. Can we have that variety back? You know? And that was the variety that was the king around here 10, 15 years ago.
Speaker 2:And nothing really has compared to that since because there's been such change. And then when you do get a good variety, they change it all the time, and that's what frustrates the growers.
Speaker 1:Yep. For sure. You know, there's some other things that that you think about particularly in your geography, and that one of those is iron chlorosis. And I don't know. Was that significant at all or or really not as much this year?
Speaker 1:And certainly, I know that's where growers look at that in particularly central Minnesota, some parts of south central Minnesota.
Speaker 2:Yeah. It wasn't as big a factor this year. It was more of a factor last year because this year we had with all the rainfall, you kind of got those nitrates, you know, percolated down into the soil profile, so allow that iron to be a little more available. And so we really didn't see those iron chlorosis areas this year like we did last year. So it wasn't as big a topic this this year.
Speaker 2:I would say for the most part, the the pythium, the phytophthora, the Rhizoctonia, those were huge issues in the month of June, and that really thinned our stands out in these a lot of these soybean fields this year. And guys were starting to bring their populations down, you know, to a 120, 125, and then they'd end up with 75 to 80 because of root rot. And it really did affect yields in the in the end on some of these farms.
Speaker 3:Well, I think we've got some time here. I kinda wanna hear now that we've kind of exhausted the soybean topic. Let's talk about corn. What's what what are you hearing on corn? What's what's the corn look like?
Speaker 3:And how how have you and and your neighbors and your clients managed nitrogen this year? And and what worked and and what didn't work in a year like this?
Speaker 2:Well, we learned a lot this year, guys, on corn production. And I think that and that and we're spacing this same thing right now with fall applications of nitrogen. It it was dry like this last year. Guys were putting in hydroson, and it was warm. And then if you remember, we got 2 to 3 inches of rain at Christmas time, and it was still warmer soils yet, and we're looking at the same issue.
Speaker 2:And I think right now, growers are a little bit more hesitant about fall applications of nitrogen until we get some rain, and we get these temperatures to cool down. And so this leads into what happened this year with the excessive rainfall. The the nitrogen programs that turned out the best this year were your spring application nitrogens, You're either spring anhydrous or you're spring, urea with ESN. But it the fall applications really suffered because of the amount of rainfall that we had in the month of, April May last year. And the growers that decided to supplement the nitrogen and and put some extra on when they could get in the fields in the month of May June, that definitely helped out yields, but our better yields this year are the spring application of nitrogen.
Speaker 3:So it did it did end up paying. Those guys that were able to get back in and side dress,
Speaker 2:as a supplement. It did pay. For me, I left a couple of strips, that I did not do, but I, put anywhere between 30 50 units I in on, around the end of May. And then, there was about a 30 to 40 bushel advantage to doing that, and that was huge. Now I would have done some again, but after the Father's Day flood, a lot of growers in in the area that got so much drowned out decided to give up on the crop because they had, like myself, had 20% drowned out.
Speaker 2:We just decided that was it. But a lot of growers that did decide to put some supplemental nitrogen, it did pay off this year.
Speaker 1:You know, there your some of your colleagues, that are working in southwestern Minnesota, as consultants down there, they really had some challenges in what I call that pothole prairie in in terms of that. But what are you hearing about yields in general? I mean, they're very variable, but even not just in your area, but, you know, beyond to the west and south in terms of preliminary corn yields? And I I know we're still going through this process.
Speaker 2:Yeah. I would say right now, if if growers had spring urea or spring anhydrous with, or did some supplemental nitrogen, and it depends upon your drowned out. So if we just did harvested acres, there's some 170 to 200 bushel corn out there. When you include the drowned out acres, obviously, that brings that overall yield down. But for the growers that did fall applications of nitrogen and did not do anything to help themselves out for supplemental nitrogen, there's some 125 to 140 bushel corn out there.
Speaker 2:So the variability all comes down to nitrogen and and the amount of drowned out, the amount of water pressure that you had on those farms.
Speaker 1:Well, you know, thinking about, again, maybe next year, we talked a little bit on the soybean side, but any recommendations to think about in terms of corn variety selection? And I know that's gonna be a ways out here. I mean preliminarily we're might be, soybeans, but what are your what are your thoughts or what are what lessons did we learn so to speak, you know nutrient outside of that but in terms of corn variety selection?
Speaker 2:I think it's the same thing as we do on soybeans. I think corn this year, looking at disease pressures, I know that a lot of growers decided not to apply fungicides after the Father's Day flood came through. And so then, you fungicide applications did not happen on the corn crop and but they're you know, you still have natural disease tolerance or resistance to the varieties that you choose. And and then we got hit with some northern corn leaf blight. Some tar spot came in real late, came in mid September timeframe.
Speaker 2:Southern rust came in, that kinda hit a few varieties pretty hard in the month of August. So again, I just say take your time evaluating hybrids. Look at your yield maps, look at data. But making decisions right now, for next year when we're so darn busy, I think the month of November December are meant for that, to evaluate what your data shows you rather than trying to make decisions based just strictly on a discount right now. I know things are tight out there, right, especially with a a lesser bushel crop year, but, you still have to make good decisions for 25.
Speaker 1:Well, I I think the, other thing is when you look at yield data, do you like to look at that yield data not just in your backyard or in say for example in your township but how do you approach that in terms of that when somebody presents you and say I've got x y z here hybrid. It done did really well for your neighbor. And then
Speaker 2:you're then where do you go, though? Just say, you know, it is so our our seed costs are so expensive right now. To make a good decision for my farm, I think you just say, hey. I need to take some time and spend looking at data and other areas of the state that these hybrids were that they were raised in and other counties and townships, and just say, hey, if you want my business, you're gonna have to give me a little time to evaluate data. And, we just don't evaluate data in mid October.
Speaker 2:We have to do that when we have a little more time in that office to to make some good decisions for 25. And so that's how I look at it. And, you know, everybody wants your business. And so the producer just has to kinda put your feet down and say, hey. If you want my business, respect my opinion on this.
Speaker 2:And I think that if they want your business, they'll do that.
Speaker 1:You know, last quick thing here. Just wanna segue a little bit into some other crops here. You know obviously you may not be growing them yourselves but, in terms of you're working with growers who do, what are the sugar beets looking like in for the the southern mid area?
Speaker 2:I would say our sugar beet crop again mimics the corn and soybean crop. You go, Highway 212 South, the sugar beet crop was very poor. You go 212 North, you get into Northern Renville County, Northern McLeod County, Northern, or in the Meeker County, and that's Kandiyuai County, the sugar beet crop's pretty good. It's not it's not like last year, but it's definitely in that 25 to 30 ton range. But when you go south and get where the the major floods are at, you're talking a lot of, oh, 15 to 20 ton type of beeps.
Speaker 2:And, that's just based on on water pressure. And so I've got a lot of sugar beet growers who are telling me it's the worst sugar beet crop they've had in 30 years. And I've got some guys who are saying that, you know, it's a it's a decent crop and nothing spectacular, but it's a decent crop. So I would say it's based all upon the the amount of rainfall we had.
Speaker 1:Yep. Very rain rain dependent. And last thing we talked about rotation here, but a plug in for your back your, backdoor, so to speak there. Canning crops, just in in general, they were challenges I imagine as as well from a moisture standpoint.
Speaker 2:Yeah. The the dry bean crop was very poor in this area. The the pea crop was very poor. The earlier sweet corn I have not heard any reports from the latter planet sweet corn, but the early sweet corn was very poor. So all the diversified crops in the area had a very poor year just because of all the rainfall.
Speaker 2:The one bright spot, the alfalfa crop was very good. I've had growers say that there's some of the best alfalfa they've raised, and they were able to get it up surprisingly in good weather conditions even between the rains in the month of May June July. So, the alfalfa crop was good. And then of all the road ditch hay that's been made this year, I think it's been made twice for a lot of growers and that are livestock producers. And, so that's been the bright spot.
Speaker 2:The the the hay and alfalfa crop has been pretty good.
Speaker 1:Well, Kurt, we will know you're a believer in that when you start to put some, milking cows or dairy back in the farm there.
Speaker 2:My wife grew up on a dairy farm. She probably would say that's okay, but I don't think that's gonna happen for me.
Speaker 1:Probably not, but you'll find another another use. Well, we're gonna kinda wrap things up here. Anything that we didn't touch on, Kurt, that you'd like to mention,
Speaker 2:with the program? The biggest thing for me is nitrogen management right now when we have to make decisions for and I know that a lot of growers wanna go to spring application of urea because that did show the best this year. But again, at the dealership level, I don't think all the acres can get applied in the spring that, you know, because of the labor and time, and with the size of growers that we have now that that can plant so many acres a day. And so we do have to use fall applications of nitrogen, but I do think splitting some of that is up is okay. You know, maybe put on 2 thirds the amount that you would normally do in the fall and then come back with another a third of the nitrogen in the spring with either urea or 32%.
Speaker 2:But definitely, conditions need to be good in the fall for fall applications of nitrogen. And right now, we just don't have it in our area. And if we can get some rainfall and cool these temperatures down, yeah, then then let's take a look at it. But I think that's the biggest thing that I wanna try to to to get across to growers right now is that we have to do a better job on our nitrogen management.
Speaker 1:Alright. Well, thank you very much. We were really privileged to, you know, Kurt, to have you take time, in the field work to visit with us today on University of Minnesota Cropcast. Kurt Burns is a independent crop consultant in the Sibley County area, covers a lot of that, South Central and Central Minnesota area. I'm your host Dave Nicolai with the University of Minnesota Extension and Cropcast along with my co host, Doctor.
Speaker 1:Seth Nave, University of Minnesota Extension, Soybean Specialist. And and again our guest has been, Kurt Burns and we briefly appreciate Kurt taking the time. Thank you very much, and we'll talk to you again soon.
Speaker 2:Alright. Thanks, guys. Appreciate it.
