Delayed planting affected the growing season and harvest for many South Dakota soybean farmers, including Dan Nigg of Sisseton. It also resulted in a lucrative year for an elevator cooperative, on which Nigg serves as a board member. Nigg, a director on the South Dakota Soybean Association board, says the harvest was so-so.
“It was alright,” said Nigg, responding to a question about the harvest during an interview with the South Dakota Soybean Network. “We had a difficult spring. We started planting soybeans the 28th of April and we never finished until probably the 20th of June. Usually in ten days, [planting is] all over, and it took a long time this spring. We’d get some planted, get rained out, get some planted; it’s been a challenging year for the crops.”
Because planting took almost two months, extending well into the summer, Nigg noticed significant yield and quality swings during harvest.
“The early-planted [soybeans] were very good, I mean we got in and we thought, ‘boy, this is going to be a great year,’ and the beans were normal to above normal,” he said. “And then as time went on, a lot of it depended on how much drown-out was in the field from the wet summer. Yeah, the beans, as you went on, they weren’t quite as good as the first ones.”