I spend a lot of time talking about beef…and beef…and every now and then some corn.
It’s not that I am biased, I swear. It’s just that beef and our corn production are really the biggest parts of our family farm.
But, it’s important to not forget all the other things that we grow. Like our family gardens, our dogs, cats, kids, oh yeah…and soybeans!
We plant mainly corn and soybeans, and every now and then some wheat. We planted some new alfalfa this year. But, I would definitely say our top two planted items are corn and soybeans.
Soybeans are considered nitrogen fixating legumes- big words, but not so scary. It means that soybeans actually put nitrogen back into the soil once they complete their life cycle. Soybeans are able to convert the nitrogen in the atmosphere to a nitrogen form that they can use. Which is kind of a big deal.
Nitrogen can help increase yields. To read more about yields, click here.
To utilize nitrogen fixating legumes many farmers will put their crops on a crop rotation system.
For example: One year a field may be planted with soybeans and the next year that same field will be planted with corn. With soybeans being planted the previous year they have left behind nitrogen in the soil to provide an ideal growing environment for corn. This helps cut down on nitrogen application costs, but most importantly allows us to use what Mother Nature has given us.
What happens to our soybeans you might ask? All of our soybeans we sell to the local co-ops. We sometimes sell them as soon as we harvest them, but other times we wait and store them in bins until we feel the market is right.
Now, soybeans…Why are they so important? Check out this great video that the United Soybean has released to tell you a little bit more about the future of soybeans. It features another local South Dakota farmer and CommonGround volunteer I am proud to know, Dawn Scheier.
Karen C says
I work with many farmers who believe the nitrogen credit is due to the nodules producing more nitrogen than the soybean needs, but that isn’t the case. The soybean residue ties up less nitrogen than the corn stalks do as they break down, giving the nitrogen credit.
Here is an article with more description.
http://www.aces.uiuc.edu/news/special-issues/springfarm/Nitrogen.htm
And a quote from the article:
The term “soybean nitrogen credit” makes it sound like the soybean crop contributes nitrogen directly to the subsequent corn crop. However, the soybean crop actually removes more nitrogen from the soil than it leaves behind. And David says, “We’ve shown that the source of the soybean nitrogen credit is largely due to greater soil nitrogen mineralization, or the breakdown of organic nitrogen to inorganic nitrogen by soil microorganisms.”
I hope you don’t mind my commenting.
SDFarmWife says
Absolutely not! I love when people comment with their thoughts. I admit this post isn’t mainly from my farmer knowledge but from my degree in AgEd. I was taught in college, in 2005, that many farmers chose to implement crop rotation with soybeans and corn because once soybeans break down their residue is what adds the nitrogen to the soil. I admit I have never heard of the concept of soybeans pulling more nitrogen from soil than giving back.I don’t necessarily disagree, this is something where I need to read more information on. But many farmers still use the practice of rotating corn and soybeans are are happy with the results.
I do think that it’s important to credit that crop rotation’s most important benefit is the ability to pull nitrogen from the soil for plants that can not produce their own, therefore decreasing the amount of inorganic fertilizer needing to be applied to the crop the following year. Granted, an alfalfa crop I believe will fixate more nitrogen than soybeans, but from what I understand crops following a soybean year still benefit.
This was a great article and I appreciate you sharing it with me! It will definitely help me expand my knowledge on soybeans and their benefits to our crops.
Katie @ On the Banks of Squaw Creek says
That was a GREAT video – I loved when Dawn said she never thought she’d have to defend her occupation! So true!
I’m a new Common Ground volunteer, too. Are you going to Charleston?
ann says
We Lways use soybeans because of the residue of nitrogen in the soil. We sometimes rotate if needed . good article