May 2008

Seed shortage challenges soybean growers

By Kelly Pruitt

With soybean prices still high, growers should be expecting a good year in 2008. But a seed shortage could get the planting season off to a shaky start.

Extreme hot and dry weather conditions in the South and Midwest, where soybeans seeds are grown, are to blame for the shortage. And growers say the seeds that are available are small and have a germination rate as low as 80 percent. A typical bag of soybeans seeds has a germination rate of 85 percent or higher.

“It’s been a challenge for me to locate seeds and not be able to plant as many acres as I would like,” said Lewis Everett, a soybean producer in Southampton County. “The size and lower germination rate of the seeds makes it hard to plan and requires a lot of fine tuning on the equipment.”

Dr. David Holshouser, an associate professor and Extension soybean specialist at Virginia Tech, said he has never encountered a shortage of this magnitude before.

“This is the first time we’ve had a real shortage,” he said. “A shortage of the best varieties occurs every year, but this year growers aren’t getting the varieties they want or the amount of seeds they ordered.”

Soybean growers may have enough seeds for their initial planting, and Holshouser insists they do what they can to make sure that crop is successful.

“We need to make to make sure every seed we plant gets up,” he said. “Suppliers will not have enough for replanting this year.”

Holshouser has been encouraging growers to plant as soon as soil conditions are ideal, planting seeds 1 inch deep in soil that is no cooler than 65 F. If growers have to plant in cold soil, he suggests using fungicide treatments.

“With potentially poor-quality seeds, we need to make sure we don’t plant in too shallow, too deep or dry soil,” he said. “Seed treatments are going to be of some value this year if we plant soybeans in the ground at 55 degrees or less.”

Due to the increased risk, many growers are putting more acres into their other crops.

“We may shift more acreage to cotton this year,” said Everett, who also grows peanuts, hay and wheat. “But when prices are high, you really want to up your production. We’re OK right now for our first planting, but we don’t know what Mother Nature has in store for us this year. Things could go downhill quickly.”