Post-Harvest Activities to Consider

It is now early September, and harvest is well under way or for many producers is nearing completion.

Thus, now is a good time to take note of the resources on this website that provide information to use as you consider some of the activities that may be or should be on your list of things to do during late summer/early fall following harvest of the summer crop.

Soybean Storage.

Are you planning to store your harvested soybean crop on-farm? If so, check out the University of Arkansas–Division of Agriculture’s publication “On-Farm Soybean Drying and Storage” for complete guidelines that you can use to ensure proper handling and storage of harvested soybeans.

Soil Sampling.

Soil sampling and testing are activities that should be done soon after harvest so that an accurate determination of soil nutrient levels and possible nematode infestations can be made in preparation for next year’s crop. For a complete guide to this process, check out the information in “Sampling Soil for Fertility and Nematodes” on this website.

Doublecropping.

A significant number of Mississippi’s crop acres will be devoted to doublecropping, which in most cases will involve planting wheat behind a summer crop. The perceived general and subjective advantages of doublecropping are:


  • Increased cash flow that results from having income from two crops in one 12-month period;

  • Reduced soil and water losses by having the soil covered with a plant canopy most of the year;

  • More intensive use of land, machinery, labor, and capital investments; and

  • Harvesting more of the solar radiation available in a given year by deploying two crop canopies.

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For details, production guidelines, and links to useful references on this subject, go to the Doublecropping White Paper on this website.

Cover Crops.

Some producers may be considering seeding cover crops following harvest of the summer crop. Cover crops are grown in most cropping systems to provide environmental and soil productivity benefits. Thus, integrating cover crops into a crop production system should be considered a long-term investment for conserving and/or improving soil and water resources. The benefits arise from:


  • Providing soil cover to prevent erosion in the off-season;

  • Increasing water infiltration into the soil;

  • Providing plant residues to increase soil organic matter;

  • Reducing nutrient loss and leaching from the soil profile and/or lowering residual soil nitrogen (N);

  • Reducing herbicide runoff in a corn–soybean rotation;

  • Suppressing or reducing early-season weeds and weed biomass; and

  • In the case of legume cover crops, increasing N supply for the following summer grain crop.


For a detailed discussion of cover crops and their utility, plus links to many useful references with information about all phases of this practice, go to the Cover Crops White Paper on this website.

Fall Weed Control.

Check out the “Weed Control Page” for numerous resources and guides that can be used to establish a fall weed control program that can give you a head start on next year’s soybean crop.

Fall Tillage.

A White Paper on this website provides an overview of tillage operations, including fall tillage, that may be an option for producers with certain soil types or soil physical problems. A PMN Webinar gives an excellent overview of using a bed system for soybean production in the Midsouth. Click here and here for results from Mississippi research where fall deep tillage was evaluated on clay soils.

As producers know from past experience, the best time to start preparation for next year’s soybean crop is now. The above references and resources will provide you with much of the information you need to make decisions about fall activities that can be conducted to enhance crop success the following year.

Composed by Larry G. Heatherly, Sept. 2015, larryheatherly@bellsouth.net