Lights, camera, soybeans!

August 15, 2024 | Jeff Hutton

The green pods are ready for their closeup in 2024, as the Des Moines Area Community College (DMACC) Camera turns its attention to soybeans.

The live DMACC Iowa Soybean Camera, powered by Champion Seed, offers an immersive glimpse into the heart of agricultural life. This webcam provides an up-close and real-time view of the soybean growth cycle at the DMACC farm north of Adel.

“The live webcam offers a captivating experience for all who tune in,” says Mitch Fastenau, the marketing and communications manager for the Iowa Soybean Association.

The Big Show and WHO Radio, in partnership with DMACC, helped secure the inputs for the DMACC plots.

While this is WHO Radio’s 15th year of the partnership, it’s the first time for viewers to see soybeans in the field. In the past, it had always been known as the Corn Cam, as it was focused on an Iowa corn field.

Travis Lautner, co-chair of the DMACC Agribusiness program, says the chance to switch from corn to soybeans was a decision that made sense.

Over the past 15 years, while the field produced a solid corn crop, there was concerns with insects and diseases impacting the crop.

“We either needed to move the camera or rotate it (the field) into something else like soybeans,” he says.

This year, the camera is providing viewers a glimpse into the field to see how a soybean emerges from the soil to the thick and lush verdant green plants that cover much of the Iowa landscape.

“I think people have received it well, and it’s allowed us to talk about what’s going on with The Big Show and WHO,” he says. “It allows us to talk about soybeans in general and mirrors what’s going on with our production fields.”

Lautner says it’s not clear yet if this particular field will go back to corn or continue for a second year of soybeans.

“We may do two years of beans, but we’re not sure yet,” he says. “We’re going to discuss how things are developing and then talk about opportunities on the radio. We may rotate crops and/or add in a cover crop with another year of beans.”

Lautner says continuing with soybeans may be an opportunity to plant cereal rye with a drone this fall before the 2025 planting season.

“We know cereal rye is a good cover crop and provides good biomass,” he says.

For the remainder of 2024, the camera is eyeing those beans.

“It’s a great opportunity to see firsthand the development of this magical crop we call soybeans,” says Fastenau.

Lautner agrees and says the camera allows farmers, non-farmers and students interested in agriculture a close-up view of what’s happening in an Iowa farm field.

“It allows us to talk about soybeans and our program and highlight what’s happening in the countryside,” he says.

To see it yourself, go to: https://www.dmacc.edu/farm/farmcam/index.html

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