Processors want clean, intact soybeans for their food products. That’s why farmers delivering lower quality crops can be hit with significant per bushel price deductions.
A few best management practices at harvest can help avoid those discounts.
Why it matters: Stained or damaged food-grade soybean seeds can have a significant negative impact on farm gate returns.
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Keeping things clean is critical when it comes to equipment and field management. Natalie Hazeleger, quality assurance manager for Sevita International, says it begins by looking for weeds, contamination issues such as volunteer corn or heavily infested areas. If found, a pre-harvest burndown to eliminate green weed, or just combining weedy areas last, might be warranted.
Hazeleger spoke during a recent Canada’s Outdoor Farm Show digital event. She said equipment and grain storage infrastructure must be cleaned to prevent contamination from other varieties. A small quantity of diatomaceous earth put in the bin with the first or an early load can help prevent insect contamination without incurring risks posed by insecticides.
“It’s important to remember our customers are making food products. Cleaning out of equipment and storage is important to avoid any GM contamination from previous crops. Ensuring the fields are clean is important to ensure the soybeans are clean, and the product coming off the field is of the highest quality,” says Matt Renkema, grain business manager for Sevita.
Dew and other moisture can quickly ruin a load of food-grade soybeans, the risk being particularly acute early or late in the day. Hazeleger recommends that growers avoid combining at these times when possible. Ensuring equipment is serviced and in top shape helps growers effectively capitalize on good harvest conditions when they occur.
Moisture levels can change from hour to hour and from field to field. Combine settings should be monitored for variations and to minimize split seeds and cracked seed coatings due to equipment damage.
“Problems with staining can cause tofu to have a greyish or off colour, whereas if a soybean is split or a seed coat is not intact, it can cause issues in the [factory],” Renkema says.
