2017 Louisiana Soybean Harvest Moves Right Along

By Don Molino, The Voice of Louisiana Agriculture Radio Network

LSU Extension Service Soybean Specialist Dr. Todd Spivey at the Dean Lee Research Station just south of Alexandria reports this year’s harvest is now in full swing with 40 to 50 percent of the beans now out of the field.

“We did have some issues after Hurricane Harvey came through directly after the storm, which saw some splitting pods where the beans were dried down. But with all that rain they would begin to take up water again to the point that the pods would split,” said Spivey.

Another issue Spivey noted after the storm came through parts of Louisiana were sprouting beans in the pod.  However, both those issues were fairly minor.

“Even the sprouts would dry down really quick and they would be sent on through the combine and not be an issue,” according to Spivey.

“Since then we’ve seen pretty high damages in beans that growers are taking to the elevator.  We saw a fair amount of pod and stem blight and even our Red Banded Stink Bug friends combined to cause anywhere from 10 to 30 to 40 percent of damage at the elevator,” said Spivey.