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MSU research shows soybeans thrive in northern regions with competitive yields

The Director of Michigan State University’s Upper Peninsula Research and Extension Center says there’s a steady push northward to grow soybeans in the state.

James DeDecker tells Brownfield about 10,000 acres in the northern lower and Upper Peninsula have been added in the last decade.

“What we see is that soybeans are supplanting crops like dry beans, or maybe forages or potatoes as growers are either moving north and acquiring land there and bringing their corn and soybean rotations and wheat with them, or as or is that exists in those areas are transitioning their operations,” he explains.

DeDecker has been studying soybean varieties in the region since 2017 as part of research with the Michigan Soybean Committee.

“In the Upper Peninsula, over all those years, we’ve averaged 39 bushels per acre, and in the northeast lower, we’ve averaged 54 across both locations all those years,” he shares. “That comes to 45 (bushels per acre), which is almost exactly the state average soybean yield.”

He says infrastructure and transportation costs remain top barriers to crop expansion, and accessing crop insurance could also be a challenge.

Brownfield interviewed DeDecker as part of a recent MSU Soybean Field Day in northern Michigan, highlighting the research.