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Iowa farmer plants early soybeans

A central Iowa farmer planted soybeans earlier than he ever has.

Corey Hillebo of Polk City says the beans went in the ground April 7th.

“The trend has been that soybeans are a lot tougher than we thought they were, and can probably take a little bit more stress and cold than corn can.”

He’s been considering early soybeans for quite a while.

“Over the last four or five years, I guess through the power of social media we’re able to kind of see what’s going on in other regions of the country.”

His goal is to get the soybeans out of the ground as fast as possible.

“Obviously without freezing them off and killing them. But capturing more sunlight, which turns into more flowers, more branching, more pods, and bigger beans.”

Hillebo planted the soybean field when soil temps were around 60 degrees, but he says it has cooled off since.