By David Moseley, Parvej, Md Rasel
LSU AgCenter
The progress of 2021 soybean planting season has been behind the five-year average from the beginning due to weekly heavy rains throughout the state. The optimum soybean planting window is suggested to be from mid-April to mid-May. According to the USDA-NASS report, 45% of the crop was planted by May 16, compared to the five-year average of 77%. During the three weeks from May 16 to June 6, soybean producers were able to plant an additional 41% of the projected acres, slightly past the optimum window. Soybean planting date research has indicated yield potential will decrease when planting late. However, the final yield from previous years with comparable slow planting progress indicate good soybean yield is still achievable this year. The planting progress in 2013 and 2019 was comparable to this year. The yields were 48.5 and 48 bushels per acre in 2013 and 2019, respectively: approximately 95% of the average yield from 2016-2020 (51 bushels per acre).