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MO farmer concerned about SDS in soybeans

A northwest Missouri farmer says recent rain events have been mostly positive for him. But Richard Oswald tells Brownfield the three to five inches of rain he received could cause trouble for his soybeans later this season.

“It’s those late-June heavy rains that sometimes cause soybean sudden death syndrome in July and August,” he said. “So, I wish we hadn’t gotten quite that much because I’ve seen that one other time and that tends to take the top off the yields.”

The Atchison County farmer said some of his best ground on the Missouri River bottom seems to be the most susceptible to soybean sudden death syndrome…

“And they’ll just suddenly die,” Oswald said. “You notice there’s some leaves out there, they don’t yellow, they just sort of turn brown and you don’t want to see that in mid to late August because that means the premature end of pod filling for the soybeans.”

He said SDS tends to be scattered in fields rather than in large concentrations. Oswald said he hasn’t experienced the disease in about five years.