Just like that...They are off!

 

After  6 months of watching this amazing little seed be planted, germinating, growing into a beautiful green plants and then dry and die down, the soybeans have been harvested. Rain is coming the guys worked near round the clock to get these beans harvested and in the grain bins.

So we watched these plants grow what now?

This particular field of soybeans yielded around 70 bushels per acre.  (this is pretty good)

They had around an 11% moisture level. This is important because the bean has to be dry enough to store in the grain bin on the farm or be taken to town and sold at the grain elevator. You will get docked on price for too high moisture or the beans will rot if you put them in the bin too wet.

The price of soybeans now is around $10 per bushel.

Each semi can hold approx. 1,000 bushel of beans that is about $10,000. Talk about a precious load that semi is carrying down the road.

Now that $10,000 is not a profit, in fact with commodity prices being as low as they are and the cost of fertilizer, seed and fuel prices being so high, farmers are seeing a much smaller profit margin than would be liked.
Farmers have lots of overhead to take into consideration and lots of risks too. Project #watchthemgrow

 

Project #WatcthemGrow Week 21

These plants were planted 21 weeks
ago and will be harvested soon.

 Soybean harvest is under way here in Ohio. These soybeans were planted 21 weeks ago. Where has the time gone? It seems as if we were just getting these seeds in the ground and now we are just weeks away from a harvest. The beans are now brown but they are not quite ready be to harvested.  

These little soybeans provided me with an opportunity to travel all the way to Beijing, China last week. I traveled on behalf of the United States Soybean Export Council with three other farm moms to chat GMO's  with Chinese women. This is a very important market for our U.S. soybeans. Every third row you see in the field is exported. Stay tuned for more writing on GMO's. This is not just a hot topic here in the U.S. but mom in China have lots of questions too. We will get to the bottom of the GMO debate.

The pods are not quite dry. When ready
to harvest the soybean will be completely
round. The beans on the left is what is
inside the pod on the right.

Here are some fun facts about the soybean!

The soybean was first cultivated in northern China and from there it spread into Japan, Korea and the rest of southeast Asia

The soybean is a legume

Elevators in the Statue of Liberty use a soybean-based hydraulic fluid

Soybeans are an important ingredient for the production of crayons. In fact, one acre of soybeans can produce 82,368 crayons

Soy crayons have been created to replace toxic petroleum-wax crayons. Soy crayons are safer to use, brighter in color, and less expensive to produce

The FDA approved soy as an official cholesterol-lowering food

Soybean oil is the most widely used edible oil in the United States; you can find it in mayonnaise, salad dressing, processed cheese products, dessert frostings and much more

Some of the better known soybean products include soymeal, soymilk, tofu, meat alternatives, tempeh, miso, soy sauce, soy cheese, soy cream cheese, soy flour, infant formula, biodiesel fuel and animal feed

Harvest Time: Corn Harvest in Ohio 2011

Ohio Corn Harvest 2011 Video

As the 2011 harvest comes to a close I want to thank all the grain farmers who work so hard to feed our country and even our world. They not only work hard to feed people but the animals that I and many others raise.

I put this documentary style video together to showcase how corn is harvested. It will take you out into the corn field and end  at the grain bin. Even if you are around fields of corn,  I think you may take something away with this shoot. I even learned a thing or two. Farmers work hard and use  technology more than you may think. They have many new tools that can keep them even more efficient. Farmers are naturally resourceful and value technology.
Did you  know while in the combine or on the go they can use an App on their phone or tablet computer  to control their grain dryer? I am excited to see what will be developed in the next 5-10 years to help even more.
Thanks so much to a few of my favorite farmers for taking time to help  me make this video possible. The corn harvest is still underway in Ohio, it has not been a typical year due to all the rain. Many farmers still have corn out in those fields. The joke was some may be harvesting into December and I laughed, it just may be true for some farmers in my area.

This field corn will be used to make ethanol here in Ohio or possibly be shipped
out to N.C. to be used to feed chickens and hogs. Fields are averaging around 200 bushels per acre.
Around 1,000 bushels of corn will fill a semi trailer.