It’s no secret that soybean growers in the Upper Midwest are at the mercy of Mother Nature.  

“We’re looking pretty good but, boy, we’re just hanging on by the skin of our teeth,” said Northern Soy Marketing Secretary/Treasurer David Struck, who farms near Wolsey, South Dakota. “We need rain really bad. We’ve got a pretty good chance of rain this week, so hopefully we get hit but if we don’t, we’re going to be in trouble.” 

Near Stratford, S.D., NSM Director Carson Stange’s farm drew the lucky straw and caught a few of the spotty thunderstorms that rolled through northeast South Dakota.  

“We’ve been fortunate enough to get some rains and we’re sitting in a pocket of good crops but if you go 20 miles in any direction, that changes pretty fast,” Stange said.  

In southeast Minnesota, NSM Chair Glen Groth isn’t as desperate for rain but wouldn’t object to a decent rain in August to bring the crops to the finish line.  

“Everything’s got a nice, dark green color,” Groth said. “The soybeans are good and healthy.”  

When it comes to weed problems popping up in the field, it’s been a pretty quiet year so far. 

“Weed pressure was a concern early on because dry weather made residual herbicides not work really well,” Groth said. “But we’re past that point now. I suspect we might see some weed pressure popping up later in the season from something getting missed but only time will tell.” 

Likewise, on the disease front, it’s been quiet. 

“There hasn’t been much disease pressure yet,” Stange said. “We just caught some rains in the last week so that really helped us but before that, it was starting to get fairly dry.” 

All in all, it’s been a boring growing season but that’s not a bad thing. 

“In our immediate area, we’re very lucky,” Struck said. “We’ve avoided the storms and nothing exciting is really going on here but sometimes boring is a good thing.”