(Photo: WBOC)EASTON, Md.– The success of a farmer on Delmarva is often measured by the quality of his or her crops and their yield. One particular crop that is heavily relied upon is soybeans.
The nation's farmers and their soybeans struggled in the heat last summer, but farmers like Greg Gannon of C.H. Gannon and Sons in Easton are more fortunate. He said, "I think it affected them worse where the drought lingered into the fall of the year. That makes a smaller-sized bean and a lower-test wheat. Right here after about August, first it turned into an almost perfect growing season. The bean was good, test weight was good and so the crop was not damaged at all by the weather once it finally turned around."
According to the United Soybean Board, the oil level in the overall U.S. soybean crop rose by .3 percent last year and protein dropped a half point, meaning beans produced nationwide were not high quality.
Summer is still a few months away but forecasters are predicting it to be similar to last year. Gannon said this year soybean crops will need some luck when it comes to precipitation.
"Quite simply you can have a dry summer but be lucky enough to catch a few thunderstorms at the right time in the midst of maybe a drought and you still produce a good yield," he said.
Gannon does not use irrigation but will consider it if the weather does not turn around.
"It would become economically unfeasible if every year there was a drought but that's probably not going to be the case- we hope not anyway," he said.
