Polish farmers share soybean growing experience: early sowing and weed control
Soybean acreage in Poland has grown from a few hundred hectares to more than 100,000 hectares. A farmer from the Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship shares details of his growing technology.
The Polish agricultural portal Farmer.pl has gathered the experience of soybean growers and the methods they use on their farms. Soybean may look like a relatively easy crop, but in practice the details often decide whether the harvest succeeds, so many growers develop their own approach.
Rapid acreage growth
In recent years soybean has entered Polish fields at a fast pace: before 2012 it covered only 200–300 hectares, while in 2026 the area exceeded 100,000 hectares. The main growing region is the south of the country, particularly the Subcarpathian Voivodeship, although cultivation is gradually shifting north as well. As acreage expands, so do growers' experience and their knowledge of soybean technology.
One farm: six years of practice
Sławomir Stefański from the Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship has grown soybean for six years. He aims for it to take up at least 20% of his farm's crop rotation each year. He chooses well-branching varieties with an earliness rating of 4 to 7 on the COBORU scale (the Polish Research Centre for Cultivar Testing). This season the largest areas are planted with the varieties Arnold and Ceres.
The farm uses full-surface non-inversion tillage. Deep tillage is done in autumn, while spring work consists of harrowing and shallow cultivation the day before sowing. Pre-sowing fertilisation is based on phosphorus and potassium, with no nitrogen applied. Stefański favours chloride-free or low-chloride fertilisers so as not to harm the nodule bacteria.
According to the farmer's experience, factory inoculation of the seed is enough for good nodulation, with no need for additional inoculation. He does consider it essential to treat seed before sowing with a fungicide dressing, to protect plants from damping-off, which he regards as one of the most dangerous early-life diseases of soybean.
