Senior Farm and Ranch Broadcaster, Ron Hays, is visiting with the Executive Director of the Oklahoma Soybean Board, Rick Reimer, talking about soybean success throughout Oklahoma.
For years, Reimer said northeast Oklahoma held the greatest soybean producing counties in the state.
“For the last five years, none of those have been the number one county,” Reimer said.
Kay County was the number one in soybeans most recently, with the next three or four top producing countries being in the surrounding area. Contrary to popular belief, Reimer said dryland soybeans have been successful in northcentral Oklahoma.
“Some of the guys that try it tell me that not only do they yield as a cash crop, but it is almost worth growing alternating soybeans with wheat just to clean up their fields,” Reimer said.
In a year with adequate moisture, Reimer said soybeans can be double cropped behind wheat, which works extremely well.
“We call it the ‘miracle crop of many uses,’” Reimer said. “If you crush 100 pounds of soybeans, you get 80 pounds of meal and 20 pounds of oil. For a long time, oil was sort of a biproduct, but now, the number of things you can make from the oil are just incredible, so it is almost the primary product of soybean crush.”
Reimer said soybeans are the second most planted crop in Oklahoma behind wheat.
For producers considering planting soybeans, Reimer said they must first analyze the rainfall and heat in their area.
“That is why we can’t grow soybeans in southwest Oklahoma,” Reimer said. “It just doesn’t get cool enough in the evenings in the late summer for bloom and pod set.”
Many producers who are wanting to diversify their operations, Reimer said, are realizing the benefit of growing soybeans as a part of their system.
“Certainly a significant crop for Oklahoma and a good opportunity- a good alternative- for some of the farmers in Oklahoma to diversify their operations a little bit,” Reimer said.
The list goes on for the products that can be produced with soybeans, Reimer said, from plastics, food, dust control and more.
“In fact, in some of the heavy-duty F-250 Ford pickups, the plastics in the dash are all made from soybean oil derivatives,” Reimer said.
To visit the Oklahoma Soybean Board’s Facebook page, click here.
