The soybean harvest in Arkansas typically begins in August and wraps up in middle to late November. This year, Santa Claus might still be delivering presents and flying over unharvested soybean fields in The Natural State.
Producers started planting the crop in March, but were stymied when perpetual rains hit the Delta region for several days in mid-April. This delayed further planting and will likely delay the harvest, soybean agronomist Jeremy Ross with the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture said.
“This soybean harvest is going to be long due to the late-planted soybean fields we have this year,” Ross said. “There could be some Christmas soybeans harvested with how late some of these fields were planted.”
The harvest to date has been below average at best, he said.
“Reports on the fields harvested so far have been average to below-average on yield,” he said. “I’m hoping yields get better once we get away from the March-planted crop that went through the 10-12 inches of rain we had the first of April.”
Ross said soybean growers “just need mild weather” for the next few months.
“The last thing we need is a hurricane to blow in and cause some problems,” he said.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) reported that 96% of soybeans had set pods, compared to 95% last year and the 92% five-year average.
The USDA earlier this month forecasted record soybean yields for the U.S. The forecast of soybean-harvested acreage was reduced by 2.4 million acres from the July report to a total of 80.1 million acres. The U.S. average yield is forecast at a record 53.6 bushels, above the average pre-report trade guess of 52.9 bushels.
For Arkansas, USDA was projecting a potential new record yield of 56 bushels per acre versus 55 bushels per acre last year.
Arkansas is projected to harvest around 3 million acres. Soybeans are the most widely grown crop in the state.
Yield projections might be at all-time highs, but the global market for soybeans is bleak. In 2021, farmers were paid a record $16 per bushel. That has plummeted to around $10.10 per bushel, and global markets might be closing even further, Agricultural Council for Arkansas Executive Director Andrew Grobmyer told Talk Business & Politics.
Brazil is slashing its rain forests to create more soybean fields and is selling them to the world’s number one importer of the crop, China. The Chinese are investing in roads, bridges, railways and ports in Brazil to help transport the crop, he said.
What’s happening in Brazil will have a devastating impact on U.S. farmers, who can’t compete with their counterparts in that country. Brazilian farmers don’t have to adhere to environmental regulations, pay tech fees, and labor costs are much lower meaning they can sell their soybeans at a heavily-discounted rate, he said.
The Chinese have a lot of influence over farmers in Brazil and coerce them into buying Chinese made equipment and technology, he said. These trade practices are unfair and Grobmyer said the Ag Council has petitioned the U.S. Trade Representative to take action.