Renewable Farming

Continuous soybeans for 13 years; 50 to 60 bu. yield range — on sandy Wisconsin ground

“We had a lot of hurdles this year,” Irvin Osterloh said Oct. 18 as he finished his 13th harvest of continuously cropped soybeans. “First a dry spell hit, then heavy rain and hail. Hail insurance paid an 8% loss. Finally we had another dry spell, which really hurt the crop.”

October 18, 2020 — Even so, when the combine rolled, Irvin reported that his field which has been continuous soybeans the longest “will probably yield 50 to 60 bushels.”

Keep in mind this is sandy ground in central Wisconsin’s Adams County, which has a 35-bu. average soybean yield. Irv’s “secret:” planting soybeans into spring-seeded oats, which stimulate a wide range of beneficial microbes, help protect young soybeans from sandblasting winds, and add a bit of organic matter. Grass and legume together; no allopathic setback.

We’ve shown much more detail earlier this season, so —

Please visit this link for a June 9, 2020 report on how Irvin’s soybeans looked with interplanted oats. 

For more photos of Irv’s fields and the basics of interplanting oats as early as possible, ahead of soybean planting, please visit this link.

This field has raised continuous soybeans for 13 years.