August 18, 2009
South Dakota crops look good but maturity an issue
Scouts on the western leg of the Pro Farmer Midwest Crop Tour have found good-looking crops so far Monday (August 17), but maturity of the corn and soy remains an issue.
A group of scouts along one route, which headed out from Sioux Falls, S.D. Monday morning, have found crops in excellent shape.
Corn seen so far has been in the blister to milk stage of development, scouts said. Meanwhile, soy is in the blooming stage of development.
Corn yields have ranged from 162 to 231 bushels per acre. Soy seen on this route has good vegetation, but pod counts are lagging. Pod counts have been variable with pods in a three-foot-by-three-foot plot ranging from 57 to 144.
However, one concern is crop maturity, which is lagging due to late spring plantings and cool July weather. The group of scouts said corn and soy crops were running 10 days to two weeks behind average maturity.
The lagging maturity puts the crops at risk of damage from an early frost.
Soil moisture is not a worry for the crops, the scouts said, as all field seen so far Monday have good top and subsoil moisture.
Overall, the crops seen need some heat, as they have good moisture to finish the crop, said Dick Overby, crop scout and producer from southern Minnesota.
On a different route, crop tour director Chip Flory said he encountered soy with decent pod counts but nothing spectacular.
Flory said he has seen no disease issues.
Along Flory's route, corn yields have averaged 140 bushels/acre, but he said a scout on a third route had an average of 142 bushels/acre. Corn was in late milk to early dough stage of development along his route, Flory said.
The western leg of the tour will gather in Grand Island, Neb., Monday evening to compare notes from the different routes, calculate yields and discuss overall trends seen.
Pro Farmer will issue its estimate of South Dakota corn yields and average soybean pod counts at the gathering.
The Pro Farmer tour also has an eastern leg, which began Monday in Columbus, Ohio. Both legs of the tour will converge in Austin, Minn., on Thursday.
