Farmers who didn’t pre-order their soybean seed this year likely won’t get any because of a nationwide soybean shortage.
Brian Rees, Lyon County extension agent, said the county would see more soybeans going into the ground if more seed were available.
“Soybean seed is in tight supply,” Rees said.
Rees said soybeans typically go in the ground as the weather warms up, around the first week of May. Rees said the soybean shortage stems from last fall’s weather.
“...We just ended up with a higher clean-out percentage and lower germination because of some issues that were caused by fall,” he said.
According to an article on www.americanfarm.com, the problem with the soybeans is two-fold: farmers are putting corn acreage back to soybeans and last year’s drought resulted in soybeans maturing early, which in turn lowered germination. The drought also caused the seed coat to be brittle.
Geri Verdak, of Monsanto Company, a St.Louis-based seed company said this morning that the drought was in the south, where much of soybean seed is grown. Verdak said if you have a drought in one area, it has a widespread impact.
The result — no soybeans. Local farmer Gale Fuller has his soybean seed stored and ready to go. Fuller farms about 2,500 acres of corn, soybeans and grazing crop in Lyon County. He was able to pre-order his.
“There’s definitely been a shortage,” Fuller said. “If you didn’t pre-order it doesn’t matter this year. The soybean situation has been a real mess. It’s been a headache for everybody.”
create (anonymous) says...
Rats! Does this mean there will be shortages in tofu?
April 26, 2008 at 6:53 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
neighbor (anonymous) says...
Nope, just a manufactured reason to charge farmers more for seed. Looks like they've learned how to do the same thing oil companies have done, reduced supply to raise the value of the product.
April 26, 2008 at 8:24 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )