ACCORDING TO THE JAN. 12, 2015 REPORT FROM THE MISS. USDA-NASS OFFICE, THE ESTIMATED STATE AVERAGE SOYBEAN YIELD FOR MISSISSIPPI IS 52 BU/ACRE. (I typed this in caps so you would be sure to grasp the gravity of this statement.)

WOW!!

This average yield far surpasses the previous Mississippi yield record of 46 bu/acre in 2013.

I came to Stoneville in 1975. From then to the early 90's, the state struggled to harvest an average soybean yield that was in the low 20's.

I well remember the best and worst years during that two-decade period.

In 1979, a year with near-perfect weather, the state average yield was 29 bu/acre. I reiterate–a year with near-perfect weather, and the state average yield was only 29 bu/acre.

The very next year, 1980, was probably the worst growing season for crops in Mississippi–both heat and drought were intense. The state average yield was 16 bu/acre. And this was when soybean prices were not very good. So you can easily determine that there was no profit from this level of production.

Mississippi soybean producers are commended for changing their production and management inputs to those practices that have resulted in these current high yields.

Now the challenge is to move onward and upward so that this increasing yield trend can be continued in the coming years. It is up to the state’s research, extension, and commodity board leaders to ensure that future activities have that as their ultimate goal.

Composed by Larry G. Heatherly, Oct. 2014, larryheatherly@belsouth.net