The USDA predicts yet another record soybean crop for 2014 with a national total of 3.8 billion bushels. This is up 16 percent from last year said David Karki, SDSU Extension Agronomy Field Specialist.
At the same time, Brazil, another world soybean producer also saw their record production during this year. Because of this record production, Karki said 2014 soybean prices are expected to take a hit. "There was a slow start this season due to continuous precipitation in June in several parts of the state. We are now however at the corner of harvesting this season's long effort," he said.
In order maximize yield, Karki said growers need to minimize losses at harvest time.
Below he outlines a few things growers should consider to keep losses to a minimum this harvest.
Pre-harvest Losses
Pre-harvest loss can occur due to shattering or detached pods, therefore timeliness of the harvest is very essential. The plants are considered physiologically mature when 95 percent of the pods are turned brown or mature color. The moisture content during this stage is about 35 percent. Harvesting soybeans as soon as the seed moisture content is below 15 percent significantly reduces the pre-harvest losses.
In fairly warm and dry conditions, seed moisture will generally drop down to 13-14 percent after five to 10 days after physiological maturity. However, the first two weeks of September 2014 will see chances for precipitation, according to recent weather predictions.
Harvesting Losses
Yield losses during harvesting are mainly during gathering. There are four kinds of gathering losses.
- Shatter Loss: shelled beans and pods fall to the ground without going into the combine.
- Stubble Loss: pods that remain on the stubble.
- Stalk Loss: pods attached to the stalks that were cut but not carried into the threshing unit.
- Lodge Loss: pods attached to the stalks that were neither cut nor delivered into the combine.
?Another type of loss occurring during harvest is the loss due to machine handling where beans pass through the combine but remain in the pod or the threshed beans which go out of the combine with the trash. Proper setting and adjustments of machine parts as recommended in the manual can reduce these losses during harvest.