Indiana soybean planting in 2023 is following the same track as 1988 and 2018, which could be devastating or bin busting! As you may or may not recall, 1988 was one of the worst droughts we have experienced. Indiana soybeans yielded 27.5 bu/ac, which was 11.5 bu less (30% reduction) than the trend yield (39 bu/ac). The only year with a faster pace was another drought year—2012. Late season rains saved the 2012 crop and Indiana yielded 44.0 bu/ac (5.8 bu below yield trend, ~12% reduction). Soybeans were planted at a fast pace in 1991 due to dry and drought conditions, but the yields were nearly unaffected (3% less than trend).     Indiana has had six years that soybean planting progress was substantially faster than the five-year average (Figure 1). Three of those years were drought years (1988, 1991, 2012) while the other years (2018, 2020, 2021) were yield-breaking[Read More…]