News

Combine equipment settings and operator skill critical for capturing more soybeans

Harvest losses could be a defining factor in profitability for some farmers.

Michigan State University Extension soybean educator Eric Anderson says about four soybeans per square foot after a combine pass is a bushel per acre lost.

“For those who are going to be harvesting a little bit later on a double crop, a lot of times those pods will set really low,” he explains. “If you’re driving over the top and you’re not getting as close to the bottom as those lower pods are, you’re going to lose there. There’s a number of different ways that you could lose anything from two to five percent.”

Operator speed, header settings, and soybean moisture are also factors that can leave bushels in the field.

Host farmer Gary Parr tells Brownfield the season has been very sporadic.

“April was incredibly wet, May dry, June incredibly wet, July incredibly dry, and then since the 1st of August to this point right here in Charlotte, we’ve had 10 inches of rain,” he shares.

Parr says he’d like to make a few technology upgrades in the near future, but, “I think the overriding concern is fuel and inputs,” he says. “The fuel is just insanely high.”

He expects to start combining the majority of his fields in about 10 days.

Brownfield interviewed both during the Michigan Soybean Harvest Equipment Field Day in Charlotte.