Farm Talk Tuesday: Double Crop Soybeans

Remember those double crop soybeans we planted back on the 4th of July? Double crop means we will harvest two crops off of this field this year...we harvested wheat on the 4th of July, then immediately planted soybeans that we'll harvest this fall.

Just look at them now! They still look very green and are pretty short compared to our May-planted soybeans. We always expect yield on double crop soybeans to be substantially lower than the yield on "normal", early-planted soybeans. However, we also have revenue from our first-crop (wheat) and value from the byproduct from wheat harvest (straw) that we use as bedding in our livestock facility.

The profitability of double cropping can change drastically from one year to the next and is largely dependent on the weather. A killing frost at this stage could be very detrimental to yield, so we're hoping that cold weather holds off a bit longer! Double cropping is sometimes a bit of a gamble in our area, which is why you don't see everyone doing it. It's much more common in the southern part of the state. We're currently only double cropping enough acres to make adequate bedding (straw) for our livestock.

Check out what our double crop soybeans look like (still large and green) compared to our May-planted soybeans.

P.S. Those are not ginormous beans...just a tiny, five year old hand!