Growing soybean in north-western Europe

The cultivation of soybean has increased considerably in Europe in the last decade supported by the development of cultivars adapted to high latitude and shorter or cooler growing seasons. These cultivars are now grown in countries where climatic conditions were considered unsuitable for soybean production until very recently, such as in southern England, Lithuania and Denmark. However, reports on the soybean cultivation at high latitudes (above 52°N) in maritime areas where cool and wet conditions occur remain scarce. This practice note is about the experience of growing soybean at Oak Park Research Farm, Teagasc in Carlow, Ireland. The trials at Oak Park showed that the soybean cultivars tested did not mature early enough for harvest under suitable conditions. From these observations, we can say that these new early cultivars are not well-adapted to Irish conditions for the production of grain for feed and food markets. However, soybean was successful grown as a whole crop, harvested while still green/immature. Bird feeding of emerging seedlings caused very significant damage in the Teagasc trials.