Michigan Soybean Yields Trending Lower

LANSING - Feb 17/05 - MFB -- A disturbing downward trend in Michigan's soybean yields has prompted agricultural officials to ask 1,500 state producers why.

Some soybean growers may already have received a questionnaire asking them to document their acreage, fertilizer use, soybean varieties, disease and insect control practices, soil conditions and yields, among other information.

It's a survey agricultural officials from Michigan Farm Bureau (MFB), Michigan State University Extension, the Michigan Agri-Business Association and the Michigan Soybean Association hope farmers will complete and return as soon as possible, said Keith Reinholt, director of field operations for the Michigan Soybean Promotion Committee.

"We'll use the results as a baseline to try to figure out what is leading to the declines and what producers are doing who have not seen declines," he said. "We want to know what production practices are successful."

Patterned after the success of the Wheat 2000 (and the current Wheat 2020) program, the survey is confidential and voluntary, but the information it will provide will be invaluable to growers, especially since new markets for soybeans seem to crop up all the time.

"Soybeans can already be used in so many products, from inks to plastics, and with feasibility studies in the works for soybean-based biodiesel production plants in the state, we think it's time to examine why Michigan soybean yields aren't keeping up with other crop yield increases," said Bob Boehm, manager of the MFB Commodity and Marketing Department. "As new markets emerge, we want our producers to be sure they can take advantage of those markets and maximize their profits. We've seen wheat yields in Michigan respond to changes in management, and we're looking for a similar response in soybean yields."

While national soybean yields have increased by 6.8% from 1999 to 2004, Michigan's yields have declined 8.7%, Reinholt said.

"People are looking at genetics to see if we may have too narrow a base, and we need to look at herbicides, aphids, nematodes and other things," he said. "If we can narrow down those causes, we can address them, so we're hoping there will be a real buy-in from growers. If they have enthusiasm for soybeans, we think - and hope - that we'll get a good return of surveys."

Armed with yield results from wheat, corn and soybeans documented from 1989 through 1994, and again from 1999 through 2004, agriculture officials have seen declines only in soybeans, and the problem seems magnified in Michigan, Reinholt said.

"The interesting thing is that wheat saw a 35% yield increase from the first five-year period to the second," he said. "That's about when Wheat 2000 came about, which speaks highly of that program. So we thought we'd look at what Wheat 2000 did, and emulate that."

Wheat 2000 basically asked wheat growers the same questions that soybean producers will be asked. The information will be used to help Michigan growers reverse the yield trend in soybeans, just as the wheat information reversed that crop's trend.

"A lot of people have concerns," Reinholt said. "Michigan's decline is in comparison to a national increase of 6.8%, while corn yields increased 18.2% and wheat increased 8.3%."

Survey results will be used primarily to establish baseline management information about successful soybean growing practices, Reinholt said.

"Then we'll have a baseline for the next five years to build on," he said. "We'll try to figure out if farmers who soil test more often or plant early have more success, and maybe we'll find out the reasons growers aren't utilizing some of the research. But we need to establish the baseline."

Copyright (c) 2005 Michigan Farm Bureau