High prices mitigate low yields somewhat

Soybean harvest is in full swing, and it won’t take long to finish, said Mike Thomas, Cooperative Grain and Supply branch manager in Marion. Full-season beans are almost all harvested, and double-crop beans — planted amid wheat stubble after harvest — will probably be harvested within a week.

Most bottom ground is producing yields between 20 and 30 bushels per acre, Thomas said. In a good year he would expect those fields to produce closer to 40 to 45 bushels per acre. The hot, dry summer obviously influenced yields, he said.

But unusually high prices for soybeans may mitigate the low yields somewhat, at least for farmers who have soybeans available to sell. The price was about $15 per bushel on Monday. Any price above $10 per bushel is uncommon.