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Success with soybeans: Nontraditional crop takes root in Huntley

The idea of growing soybeans in Montana is "nuts."
"At one time I was in that camp," admits Ken Kephart.
But no longer, said the agricultural scientist as he viewed two acres of foundation
seed plots at the Southern Agricultural Research Center at Huntley.
And that’s as close to the south these beans are going to get.

By JIM GRANSBERY
Of The Gazette Staff

Kephart’s experiments are in their third season,
producing a thick, bushy field of the high-protein
oilseed that has a thousand uses. Soybeans will
provide a much-needed rotation crop for other
mainstays in the valley.

With the new rules in the federal farm bill, the crop
can help the cash flow of farmers who have seen low
prices for just about every commodity in recent years.
Kephart initially viewed soybeans as a way to
break the disease cycles in sugar beets and malt
barley, two important cash crops in southcentral
Montana.

A one-year rotation of sugar beets and barley is
not long enough to get rid of the nematode pests that
harm beets, Kephart said. Putting corn in between
beets and malt barley injects other pests into the cycle
that harm the malt barley.
"Soybeans do not host pests that affect sugar
beets or malt barley," he said.
It also reduces the amount of pesticides needed
to control the weed koshia.
Being a legume, the beans also act as a nitrogen
fixer for use by the n ext crop. Because of the high yields he has achieved in his test plots, Kephart estimates
the nitrogen savings for the next crop at about $21 an acre.
The best reason for growing the crop, however, is that with high yields per acre and the new rules in the
farm bill, beans make a profitable crop, Kephart said.
"Farmers can make money growing it," he said. "And they can grow it without any major new investment in
equipment."

The crop is normally harvested in mid-October when the leaves dry up and drop off leaving just the pods on
the stems. Kephart said he has averaged 71 bushels an acre.
Kephart said that Travis Zerface, manager of Peavey Co. in Billings, is set to buy soybeans from local
growers with the idea of sending them to the Pacific Northwest for export to Japan, the No. 1 buyer of U.S.
soybeans.
Japan demands quality. Kephart said his experiments have so far produced superior-quality beans that will
help make the crop more profitable.
Kephart is so optimistic with his results that he has two acres of foundation seed of two varieties of
soybeans growing for local farmers to use next year.
"That is how bullish I am," he said.

Kephart said he is cooperating with Roy Scott, the soybean plant breeder at South Dakota State University,
to evaluate soybean lines for adaptation to southcentral Montana.
One of the early converts to soybeans is Brian Schweitzer, a producer with farms near Forsyth and in the
Flathead area.
"I planted 130 acres on a center pivot near Forsyth" he said. "I don’t know what 100-bushel soybeans look
like, but mine look awfully good."

Schweitzer said he plans to sell his soybeans to area livestock feeders because Montana imports protein
and selling locally will let him reduce freight costs.

Jim Gransbery can be reached at 657-1288 or at [email protected]

Copyright © The Billings Gazette, a division of Lee Enterprises

http://www.billingsgazette.com/index.php?tts=1&display=rednews/2002/08/12/build/business/soybeans.inc

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