Soybean Murder Mystery
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Solving murder mysteries is a popular game but when it affects your crops, it is serious business! Soybean yields have been stagnating for years. Some farmers get great yields (70-90 bushel/acre), but many farmers average 50-65 bushel/acre. Soybean yields may be 20-30 bushel below optimum, even with good genetics. With depressed crop prices, good soybean yields are essential to making a profit and staying in business. The Allen County SWCD (Decatur, Indiana) held a field day two weeks ago. A local farmer (Nate) approached me after I gave a presentation on how a lack of plant available nutrients increases crop disease. Nate, a trained agronomist, says he noticed a “soybean mystery disease” starting in 2014. It occurs around August 1-10th almost every year but is worse some years. Symptoms: Usually, low areas or compacted areas show up first but also hill tops. It starts on lower leaves which turn pale, yellow, then brown and fall off. Usually, bean pods start aborting from the bottom