Soybean production on the rise

• Cheaper to produce than corn and ready to harvest sooner, soybeans are becoming more popular.
• Reports indicate that Ohio farmers are planting more soybeans than corn in the last fewer seasons.
• Still, in Coshocton County, corn production outpaces soybean production.
• But farmers are still planting more acres of soybeans every year.

DRESDEN – Steve Little descends from a massive farm machine equipped with 32 rows of buckets carrying soybean seed.

The buckets, attached to the back of a tall tractor, are each numbered with a black marker. As the loud motor dies down, Little explains the machine helps him plant 30 acres per hour of soybeans.

Although rain has hampered some of Dresden-based Little Farms’ planting efforts, the operation is one good day away from finishing up the soybeans, the 54-year-old farmer said.

When all is said and done, workers plan to have planted 500 acres of soybeans this season on their farms, which extend into Coshocton, Muskingum, Guernsey and Licking counties. That will yield a harvest of about 50 bushels an acre, Little said.

Little Farms began planting soybeans in the mid-1970s, said Little, who represents the sixth generation in his family to operate the farm. Although the farm’s corn crop still eclipses its soybean crop by a few hundred acres, it’s indicative of a statewide, even national, trend: As soybeans are cheaper to produce than corn and are ready to harvest much sooner, more farmers are taking advantage of the crop.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has noted an increase in soybean production in Ohio in the last few years.

In Ohio, corn stocks were down to 343 million bushels, compared with 363 million a year earlier, according to the USDA. In that same time, soybean stocks rose in the state from 63 million bushels to 102 million.

This season, the USDA predicts Ohio farmers will plant less corn than last season, 3.5 million acres, making it the third consecutive year with an acreage decline. Soybeans, meanwhile, continue to grow for the third straight year, increasing even over last year, a record year in the state for the crop. Farmers will plant 5.1 million acres of the crop this year, according to the USDA.

Ohio is not alone in this trend. The increased prevalence in soybean production mirrors the rest of the nation, the USDA’s report notes.

But while that is true statewide, the trend may be a little slower to take hold in some counties. In Coshocton County, corn production still outpaces soybean production.

“Even though it seems like we have a lot here, when you compare us to the rest of the state, we’re really on the lower end,” said Emily Adams, the director of the Ohio State University Extension Office in Coshocton County.

In 2014, farmers harvested 17,700 acres of soybeans, compared with 26,000 acres of corn, according to the USDA.

Still, that’s an increase in soybean production in recent years. A year earlier, farmers harvested 17,200 acres of soybeans.

“I think it’s been steadily, slowly increasing,” Adams said. “It’s become part of (farmers’) production management cycle.”

Like Little, many of the region’s farmers began planting soybeans this month, although they could continue planting them into June. That will make them ready to harvest around September or October, a month or so before corn is ready.

Still, Little said, with no soybean processing facility within 100 miles, he finds it more convenient to produce corn.

But as demand continues to increase and more uses for soybeans are discovered, Adams said their production is likely to continue rising. Animal feed in particular has become a huge use for soybeans, she said.

In addition, oil from soybeans can be used in shortening, margarine, cooking oil and salad dressing. It can also be used for ink, paints, varnishes, and biodiesel products.

“Those kind of inventions and discoveries have created more of a demand for soybeans,” Adams said.

elagatta@gannett.com

740-450-6753

Twitter: @EricLagatta