Soybean harvest progress up 13 per cent in one week

Oct 02, 2024
By Diego Flammini
Assistant Editor, North American Content, Farms.com

About 26 percent of U.S. soybeans are in the bin

Soybean harvest progress doubled in one week across the U.S.

Growers have harvested about 26 percent of national soybean acres as of the USDA’s Oct. 1 Weekly Weather and Crop Bulletin – up from 13 per cent last week.

Farmers planted about 86.1 million acres of soybeans this year, meaning about 22.39 million acres have been harvested so far.

For context, farmers in Illinois planted 10.7 million acres of soybeans in 2024.

Louisiana farmers are the furthest along.

Growers there have combined about 71 percent of the state’s 1.17 million soybean acres. That’s in line with the five-year average in the state.

Sixty percent of the crop is rated a good with 14 rated as excellent.

Farmers in North Carolina have only harvested about 7 percent of its soybean acres.

Producers there planted about 1.5 million acres of soybeans this year.

Corn harvest progressed by 7 percent in one week.

U.S. corn growers have harvested about 21 percent of the country’s 91.5 million acres – or about 19.2 million acres.

To put that into perspective, Iowa farmers planted about 13.1 million corn acres in 2024.

Farmers in Texas are nearly finished corn harvest.

The USDA’s report shows producers are 91 percent through their harvest.

About 33 percent of the state’s crop is rated as good, with 8 percent considered in excellent condition.

Winter wheat continues to emerge across the country.

Around 14 percent of America’s winter wheat acres are up, the USDA’s report says. That’s up 10 percent from last week.

Washington wheat is the furthest along, with around 38 percent of the crop emerged.

Around 1 percent of the winter wheat in Missouri has emerged.

Arkansas, California, North Carolin and Ohio are reporting no winter wheat emergence as of Oct. 1.

Video: Turning Plant Defense Into a Management Strategy

Turning Plant Defense Into a Management Strategy

Understanding how a plant responds to stress is one thing.

Using that knowledge to make better management decisions is another.

Systemic acquired resistance, or SAR, is the plant's more direct defense response. When stress or infection occurs, the plant begins signaling throughout its system and preparing defensive compounds.

But if we know that response exists, can we help prepare the plant before the stress arrives?

The answer starts with understanding what triggers the response and what the plant needs to carry it out.

The Trigger and the Fuel

Salicylic acid plays an important role in triggering the SAR pathway.

Think of it as turning the truck on.

The engine may be running, but it still needs fuel to do the work.

In this case, manganese plays an important role in supporting the enzyme systems involved in the plant's defensive response.

This makes manganese status an important part of the conversation. Whether a producer is using tissue testing, sap analysis, or simply scouting for visible deficiency symptoms, the goal is to make sure the plant has adequate manganese available.

Manganese is required in relatively small amounts, but that does not make its role small.

If the plant receives a signal to defend itself but lacks the nutrition needed to support that response, it may struggle to carry out the process efficiently.

The trigger matters.

The fuel matters too.

Prepare Before the Stress Arrives

The best time to think about stress management is before the plant is overwhelmed.

Once a crop is already struggling, management can quickly turn into a game of catch-up.

This is similar to nitrogen management. Once a plant becomes severely deficient, correcting the problem does not necessarily erase the time and yield potential already lost.

Plant defense can work the same way.

Low-rate, targeted approaches designed to support the SAR pathway may fit best ahead of an expected stress event rather than after significant damage has already occurred.

That requires producers to think about predictable stress.

We may not know exactly what the weather will do tomorrow, but we generally know summer heat is coming. We know certain field conditions increase disease pressure. We know a herbicide application can temporarily stress a crop as the plant processes the chemistry.

Even a properly timed and labeled herbicide application can create a temporary response in the plant.

That does not mean the herbicide is bad.

Weeds can create significantly more yield loss than the temporary stress caused by controlling them.

The question is not whether we should eliminate every stressor.

The question is whether we can better prepare the plant to manage necessary and predictable stress.

Not All Stress Is Bad

Stress is a normal part of plant growth.

A perfectly stress-free environment does not exist in the field.

In fact, some stress is necessary for normal plant development. A plant responds to wind, temperature, moisture, sunlight, and countless other environmental signals throughout the season.

The environment is stress.

The plant's job is to manage it.

Problems begin when the stress load becomes greater than the plant's ability to respond.

Extreme heat, drought, high salt concentrations, disease pressure, and even certain management practices can add to that load.

This is where understanding SAR becomes useful.

Instead of waiting until the plant is visibly struggling, producers can begin identifying periods when stress is likely and make management decisions around those windows.

ISR Starts With the Soil

While SAR is a more direct defense response, induced systemic resistance, or ISR, brings the conversation back to soil health.

The longevity of a farm is closely connected to the health of its soil.

Carbon plays a major role because it supports biological life within the soil. Bacteria, fungi, and other organisms interact with plant roots and influence how the plant grows, accesses nutrients, and prepares for stress.

This is why soil health cannot be reduced to one product or one application.

It is a system.

Keeping living plants in the field longer can support biological activity. Cover crops may fit some operations. Better water management can improve soil conditions.