Soybean yields have reached plateau
URBANA, HI. - A survey of
436 top soybean growers,
taken to identify trends in
soybean production reveals
an inability to increase
yields the past 10 years.
While overall U.S. soybean
yields are still creeping
upward, history has shown
that as top growers go - so
goes the nation.
The survey was conducted
by the National Soybean
Crop Improvement Council,
headquartered here, and
trends were obtained by
matching it up with similar
surveys conducted five and
10 years ago. Altogether, 263
top Midwest growers are
included in the 1977 survey.
Top soybean growers,
however, have not given up
and are continuing to do new
RICHARDTOn
MORE USES THAN EVER•
• Saves time,
and trucks
• 12 ft. & 14 ft. sizes
FOR YOUR CLOSEST DEALER
Suncook Valley Equipment Company, Inc.
P.O. Box 220
Suncook, NH 03275
(603)485-5355
Dealer Inquiry Invited
things to increase yields,
reduce costs and improve
their marketing programs.
Top soybean growers
everywhere are expanding
their soybean acreage,
switching to improved
varieties, using more
fungicide seed treatment,
moving toward narrower
rows, using more com
binations of herbicides and
planting earlier.
But on the down side, they
are using less fertilizer,
trying fewer new practices,
and cutting back on their
expectations for higher
yields in the future. In 1970,
for example, Midwest
sowbean growers expected
to be averaging 62 bushels of
beans by 1980. But in the
current survey, they have
ior, forage boxes
Easily Converts
For Use As A
Forage Wagon
Grain Box
Ear Corn Box
Beet Wagon
Chaff Saver
'SN<y>' ss s
CONTACT
reduced their 1980 estimate
to 55. They’ll have a hard
time making even this scaled
down goal - they’ve been
stuck on a line through 42
bushels for almost 10 years.
A picture emerges of the
world’s best soybean
growers - trying harder - but
enjoying good results less. In
fact, an ominous trend of
declining yields appears in
Western and Mississippi
Delta soybean growing
areas. Several other answers
in the survey tend to lend
support to the declining yield
trend line.
Asked to report the yield in
their “highest” and
“lowest” yielding fields, top
growers reported a decrease
in these field averages in all
areas of the country except
the Southeast where their
yields are still going up.
Nationally, top fanners are
adopting new practices to
increase yields at about half
the rate of 1966. Their
problem is that few new
practices are available. And
underscoring it all was
pessimism - or perhaps
realism - about future yields
with consistently lower
projections for future yield
increases in each of the three
years surveyed.
It is not lack of interest,
however, that is behind this
yield decline. Limitations on
research by the USDA and
state universities have
reduced the flow of new
-"Il
Ight
production ideas available to
them. Now, scientists must
concentrate on more
research on ever more
persistant insects,
nemotodes, plant diseases
and weeds. The yield
declines reflect the lade of
production research - the'
kind that produces new
soybean growing practices
which they can put to use to
increase yields.
The council’s survey was
conducted by major soybean
regions, including the
Midwest, Delta, Southeast
and West. The Midwest
section of the survey in
cludes the states of Indiana,
Illinois, lowa, Minnesota,
Wisconsin, Michigan,
Missouri and Ohio. In each
regional report, leading
growers recorded their
production practices and
changes for 1976, their plans
on how to reduce production
costs and increase profits,
and their plans for the
future.
Top Midwest soybean
growers have been
producing yields in the 40 to
43 bushel range since 1966. In
cases where their yields
were down, soil and weather
conditions were most often
mentioned as the reason.
Seed varieties, weeds and
poor drainage were also
cited.
About 20 per cent of the top
Midwest growers have some
acreages of double-crop
IW. Main Street,
Lancaster Farming. Saturday. Jul
beans. 44 bu.-A. was the
top yield from any single
double-crop farmer.
Earlier planting and
narrower rows are some
changes top growers will
make to increase their
soybean yield in 1977. Most
USDA posts
farm plantings
WASHINGTON, D.C.-The
Statistical Reporting Ser
vice, United States
Department of Agriculture,
has reported the following
plantings of 1977 crops:
Com planted for all pur
poses totals 82.7 million
acres, down two per cent
from 1976 but six per cent
above 1975. Acreage for
grain, at 70.8 million acres,
is down 0.4 per cent from last
year but is five per cent
above 1975.
Sorghum plantings of 17.4
million acres are down six
per cent from 1976 and five
per cent from 1975.
Producers expect to harvest
14.1 million acres for grain, a
decrease of five per cent
from 1976.
Feed grain planted
acreage (corn, sorghum,
oats and barley combined)
totals 129.1 million acres,
down 0.4 per cent from the
16. 1977—99
are already using better
weed control and improved
bean varieties.
Marketing beans in the
Midwest will continue to
center around storing on
farm, hedging on the futures
market, and selling part of
their production on contract.
acreage planted last year.
Acreage intended for grain
harvest is 108.9 million, two
per cent larger than the 1976
acreage.
All wheat seedings total
74.4 million acres, down
seven per cent from a year
earlier and down one per
cent from two years ago.
Growers seeded 55.7 million
acres of Winter wheat last
Fall, three per cent less than
a year earlier. Durum wheat
acreage seeded is 3.2 million,
down 33 per cent from 1976.
Spring wheat other than
durum seedings total 15.6
million acres, down 12 per
cent from last year but 11 per
cent above 1975. Acreage for
harvest is indicated at 48.5
million acres for Winter
wheat, 3.0 million for durum
and 15.0 million for other
Spring wheat.
Food grain seeded acreage
(wheat, rice and rye com
bined) at 79.6 million acres is
down seven per cent from
1976. Acreage harvested and
to be harvested for grain is
indicated at 69.5 million
acres, down six per cent
from 1976.
Soybean planted acreage
is a record 59.0 million acres,
up four per cent from the
previous record in 1973 and
up 17 per cent from 1976.
Growers intend to harvest
58.0 million acres for beans.
Cotton planted acreage is
placed at 13.4 million, 15 per
cent above 1976 and 41 per
cent above 1975.
Oilseed planted acreage
(cotton, flaxseed, peanuts
and soybeans combined) is
75.4 million, up 17 per cent
from 1976.
TRY A
CLASSIFIED