August 18, 2009

Scouts on one leg of the Pro Farmer Midwest Crop Tour are generally finding solid crops with good yield potential, provided they get adequate rain.

 

The scouts on one route, which headed north out of Columbus past Marion, Ohio, found dry soils and crops that "could use a rain," as scouts said more than once.

 

But ear counts and lengths were good for the corn and soybean pod counts have been strong.

 

"It is dry, no doubt about it, but crop conditions are actually pretty good," said Mark Bernard, a crop consultant from southern Minnesota.

 

The average corn yield estimate is 175.2 bushels per acre through five stops, compared to 141 bushels per acre on the same route last year. The average soy pod count in a three-foot-by-three-foot area is 1,330, compared to 953 last year.

 

Scouts did note some signs of stress, such as spider mites and Japanese beetles on the soy plants, as well as isolated issues including phytophthora disease on a soy plant in Seneca County.

 

Bernard also said usually the corn is in the denting stage on the crop tour, while only one field showed corn Monday that was beginning to dent. The late development of the crop still leaves it vulnerable to an early frost, Bernard said, but the crop is nonetheless further along than it was last year.

 

The eastern portion of the tour kicked off Monday with about 40 scouts on nine routes. Scouts expected to see a late maturing crop due to planting delays in the spring.

 

One scout from Ohio said the tour should also be looking for "white mould" on the soy, a problem that he said has been generating a lot of attention from the media and extension officials in Ohio in recent days.

 

The US Department of Agriculture earlier this month projected that Ohio would produce a corn crop of 523 million bushels with a yield of 165 bushels per acre, up sharply from 2008. Harvested acreage in the state is pegged at 3.17 million.

 

The Buckeye State's soy crop was projected at 215.3 million bushels with a yield of 47 bushels per acre. Harvested acres are pegged at 4.58 million.

 

The first day of the eastern leg of the tour will wind up Monday night in Fishers, Ind., where tour officials will calculate the average corn yield for Ohio and average soy pod counts in a three-foot-by-three-foot square area.

 

The Pro Farmer tour also has a western leg, which began Monday in Sioux Falls, S.D. Both legs of the tour will converge in Austin, Minn., on Thursday.