Saskatchewan farmer seeds one-third of his acres to soybeans

Soybean success has been hit and miss in Western Canada, but Kevin is determined to make it work. He has grown the crop for seven seasons. This time last year, he thought his crop might be in trouble with the wet spring, but it recovered and yielded nicely. This year the season is 100 corn heat units behind last year. Kevin is posting a regular progress report on the crop on his website (click the link below) so you can follow along. This photo, taken today, is one of his soybean crops seeded May 18 into soybean stubble.

Some of his seed customers are nervous about their soybeans and some have called because the cotyledons are losing colour. Kevin tells them not to worry. "As long as you don't lose a cotyledon before the first trifoliate leaves come, the plant will be OK," he says. "Once the trifoliate leaves come, the plant doesn't need its cotyledons anymore."

Soybean seeds from Elmy's Friendly Acres Seed Farms are in fields from Prince Albert to Arborfield to Assiniboia this year. Kevin will write an article for Grainews later this year to report on how the crop did in these regions.

As a closing comment, Kevin got word this morning that Jordan Mills is offering $12.50 per bushel for soybeans picked up in the yard at Yorkton this fall. At that price, he says you only need about seven bushels per acre to break even on soybeans.