Dry Spell in August Hurt Soybean Crops, Says Purdue Extension Educator

Despite high hopes at the end of June for an overwhelming soybean yield, Chad Rushing, extension educator for agricultural and natural resources at Purdue Extension, said the predicted yield for soybeans and corn has dropped due to lack of rain in August. He said this vital time for the crops was drier than anticipated and has had a detrimental impact on yields; while it’s not a significant impact, he said it won’t be the phenomenal yields that had been predicted earlier this year.

“The biggest impact on yields this year was definitely the lack of moisture or rainfall that we received after pollination. So we had the corn crop; it pollinated, so that was looking good, and there were a lot of predictions there and then we didn’t get any rain after pollination and that had a lot of impact on grain fill and both corn and soybeans,” Rushing said.

Had we gotten more rain, Rushing said the yields would have definitely met the predictions made in late June, but that month of drought definitely hurt the crops. With the soybean harvest getting started, Rushing said only time will tell how much of an impact that dryness had.

He said yields will still likely be average to above-average, depending on the soil quality in the field – but overall, it won’t be a bad year, with predicted yields around 40 or so bushels per acre for the county.

“The soybean yield will probably average somewhere in the mid-40s for the county. There were some fields that looked extremely well, others on poor quality soils don’t look as well. But overall it will still be an average to above-average soybean yield for Starke County,” explained Rushing.

The soybean harvest is expected to last for the next month.