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Some of the limi ng factors to yield in my experience can be seeding too early, a cool summer or lack of late season rain. Seeding should not occur un l the sustained soil temperature is 10°C or higher. The air temperature following seeding I think is crucial as well. If you have a good forecast of 20°C or higher, plants emerge quicker and seem to have more vigor. Early in the growing season, they love heat. Cool temperatures seem to make the plant shorter and also make that lowest pod stay closer to the ground. That makes ge ng all pods at harvest difficult. Harves ng soybeans is rela vely easy as plants defoliate and stand very well, but the lowest pod height can be an issue for yield. And lastly, one of the biggest yield factors is late season rain. During pod fill a big rain is money in the bank, but as we saw in 2016 this blessing for soybeans can cause issues in other crops like late maturity and harvest headaches. Currently soybean produc on is in its infancy in central Alberta and if you are thinking of trying them, my advice is to start small. A 15-30 acre plot size works well - any smaller and wildlife can be a problem as deer and rabbits love the taste of young plants. Most varie es are glyphosate tolerant, so the only real weed issue is volunteer canola and there are op ons out there to control these. Check your average heat units in your area during the growing season to make sure varie es are in place that will give you a good chance at success. My experience is if you are under or close to only 2200 chu during the growing season (May 15-Oct 15 is what I use), the varie es aren't quite there yet but more than likely will be one day. I'm going into my fourth year with some op mism as I'm growing some very early varie es in the plot and they have poten al to yield be er, and hopefully taking what I've learned from previous years will also help with yield. Long-term, I see soybeans becoming a regular part of our rota on in central Alberta because of the rota on benefit, reduced fer lizer input as well as the benefits of nitrogen fixing for the following crops. Good luck with #Plant18. John Kowalchuk is a grain farmer at Rumsey, Alberta and is currently a director for the Alberta Pulse Growers. He has documented his experience growing soybeans on Twi er @kowalchukfarms using #RumseySoybeans and on his blog at h ps://johnkowalchuk.blogspot.ca/. The crop was s ll quite green in September 2016, but in September 2017 it was quite the opposite. Con nued from Page 12 1 4

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