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Soybean growers facing climate and economic challenges

A soybean specialist with Clemson University says the nation’s soybean growers are facing challenges on several fronts.

Michael Plumblee says changing weather patterns are impacting production across the country.

“Regardless of about where you were, whether it was excessive rainfall, flooding, tropical storms, hurricanes, or even drought, definitely a wide range of geographies represented.”  He says, “Everybody has a little bit different story in terms of the impacts that they had.”

He tells Brownfield economic volatility is also putting a strain on many producers.  

“Input prices are way up.  Commodity prices are low.  We’re still operating on an older farm bill.”  He says, “Profit margins are just going to be narrow, and we want to make sure that we capitalize on as much profit as we possibly can to promote the sustainability and longevity of a lot of our farms.”

Plumblee says it’s import for soybean growers to rely on trusted resources, like materials from Science for Success, to help weather challenging times.

“Science for Success is a project that is collaboration of applied soybean extension specialists from across the U.S.”  He says, “We’re trying to do similar things where we all still have a location, or have the environmental factor, but we’re combining resources.”

Science for Success is hosting an upcoming free webinar series discussing these and other issues facing soybean growers.  Learn more by clicking HERE.

AUDIO: Michael Plumblee – Clemson University