By Donald Stotts
Strong soybean prices have helped lead a number of Oklahoma producers to double-crop soybeans this year, with the November Soybean contract peaking on March 10 before falling back this June to a futures price that still exceeds $10 as of this writing.
Trent Milacek, Oklahoma State University Cooperative Extension agricultural economist for the state’s Northwest District, reminds producers there are a few input costs that have to be paid out-of-pocket in terms of soybean production.
“Seed, inoculant, burndown applications and in-season herbicide application costs typically can be expected,” he said. “Additional inputs may involve pesticide or nutrient applications if soils have been depleted by a high-yielding wheat crop.”
While nitrogen applications typically are not profitable in Oklahoma soybean double-cropping systems due to relatively lower yields, the producer may see a response to a phosphorous application if a soil test recommends it.
“For this year, producers can expect to pay $45 for seed, $10 to $15 for burndown, $10 for in-season herbicide application and another $15 to cover a pesticide application,” Milacek said. “Other costs may be $15 for custom application, $15 to plant, $35 to custom harvest and splitting rent with the wheat crop at $25.”
Using the above figures, the operating cost to produce an acre of soybeans is $175. This does not cover fixed costs and may over or under estimate the actual costs of individual production activities. Phosphorous fertilizer, assuming 50 pounds per acre, would be $27.
“A yield of 20 bushels per acre sold at $9.25 per bushel would result in a gross revenue of $185, which is $10 above the projected operating costs and would represent a decent profit opportunity for producers,” Milacek said. “The $10 margin allows for a reduction in yield of 1.1 bushels before the operation is at breakeven. Reductions in variable costs may be possible with liberal scouting and intensive management.”
Mason Bolay of Bolay Farms west of Perry credits the family operation’s use of no-till as helping their fields to be in the best possible condition for producing soybeans. Bolay Farms primarily produces wheat, soybeans, corn, sorghum, milo and alfalfa, in addition to running cattle.
“We came through wheat harvest in good shape and were able to retain excellent moisture in the fields,” he said. “I always remember a study shared at the Oklahoma No-Till Conference one year detailing how heat below the straw can be 15 degrees cooler than the heat load above the straw. Given how hot our summers can get, that is a great benefit to producing crops.”
Mason started double-cropping soybeans in 2002 – when he was still in high school – after a terrible wheat crop that year.
“I was in charge of some of our fields and needed a cash crop so I planted soybeans right into the straw,” he said. “My dad and granddad thought it was the worst idea I had ever come up with but when I made more money from the soybeans after harvest than I had made from my wheat, they came around. Ever since then we have been double-cropping soybeans on 500 to 1,000 acres.”
Mason and his brother Madison humorously summed up their operation as “cheap dirt and weather extremes hopefully overcome by good management.”
“Oklahoma is known for its red clay and we certainly have a lot of that, but we put our degrees from the OSU College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources to good use and take full advantage of OSU Cooperative Extension programs designed to help us producers maximize our available resources,” Mason said.
A 2007 CASNR graduate, Mason majored in agribusiness with a minor in rangeland ecology. Madison graduated from CASNR in 2010 with a general agriculture degree.
Bolay Farms was created in 1892, right after the historic Oklahoma Land Run that year. The operation has expanded beyond the original homestead farm, which began as simply a wheat and cattle operation.
“Today, we’ve had good success with wheat, then double-cropping soybeans and then following that up with corn,” Madison said. “It has really helped us transition into a no-till system. We might not be grazing as many cattle as before, but we’ve become better managers on the compaction side and that has benefited our fields and pastures.”
Madison added that he has been extremely pleased with the Bolay Farms’ no-till efforts and crop rotations, citing how they help manage operational risk.
“Think of it in terms of fertilizer, even if the soybeans don’t take for some reason, we haven’t wasted the fertilizer because we’re going to be planting corn,” he said. “We’ve also been active in soil testing and zone sampling in determining fertilizer needs. There aren’t really any spots in our fields where crops growing just fine elsewhere don’t produce as well in those spots.”
Source:okstate.edu