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Slow soybean harvest reveals drought impact in Kansas

A central Kansas farmer says it’s been a sluggish and disappointing start to soybean harvest.

Rick Schlender says yields are well below trend-line from this year’s drought. “The heat during pod set and fill period has hurt us in that regard. Irrigated is going to be all over the board. We’d be fortunate to see 20’s this year for yield.”

He tells Brownfield last week’s rains exceeded what he received during the growing season. Schlender says it’s taken several days for conditions to improve. “We’re going to at least try it and see how it carries. I was driving recently through the country and I already started to seeing gray fields. It absorbs the rain pretty quickly as dry as we were.”

Schlender says the moisture will help recharge the soil profile and is optimistic there could be more rain in the near future.