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Iowa farmers pleased with early soybean yields

Better than expected.

That’s how Josh Nelson, who farms near Belmond in north-central Iowa, describes their soybean yields so far.

“We finished up our first two fields yesterday and they turned out pretty good,” Nelson says. “They’re on sandier soil and I’d say we had about a 55 bushel average from both fields, which is a bit better than we were expecting this year.”

Dennis Bogaards of Pella in south-central Iowa, is also happy with what he’s seeing for bean yields.

“We got started in the field and were seeing some 65 bushel beans. As we went through the field we got into a few places where the water stood earlier this spring and really saw decreased yields in those spots,” says Bogaards. “We finished a 100-acre field last night and it ended up about 57.  I’m really pretty pleased with it for the year, for what we’ve seen so far.

Bogaards tells Brownfield he’ll put all of his crop in the bins this fall, hoping for a post-harvest bounce in the markets.

“It’ll be interesting to see once we get done harvesting if it’s really as good as everybody says, over all the acres and what kind yields we’ll see,” he says. “I guess I’m a little bit optimistic that there will be some (bounce).  I don’t expect $7 corn this year but I sure think we can sure come off the $2 range, where we’re at right now.”

Nelson says corn in his area has been slow to dry down.  He’s heard reports that it’s still running in the upper 20’s and low 30’s for moisture content.

AUDIO: Josh Nelson

AUDIO: Dennis Bogaards