August 24, 2006

 

Corn yields in US state of Illinois lower than expected

 

 

Field scouts assessing corn yield prospects are reporting "disappointing" results seen across the US state of Illinois, one of the major states in the US's "breadbasket".

 

Farmers, agronomists, traders, consultants and journalists involved in the annual industry event sampled 120 Illinois cornfields estimating average yields of 149.32 bushels an acre.

 

Although that is 16 percent above drought-reduced yields predicted by the tour during last year's drought, it still fell far short of the 20 percent improvement in year-to-year corn yields forecast by the USDA.

 

"I would have to say our corn yields were a little disappointing, for what I was expecting to see, at least based on some of the blather we heard coming out of the Illinois area," said New Richland, MN, agronomist Mark Bernard. "It looks like final plant populations were just a touch too low."

 

Bernard added that "a fair amount" of gray leaf spot disease is also now appearing in Illinois corn, which would lower yield potential further.

 

Heightened expectations of 200-bushel corn yield only made the reality more painful.

 

Crop scout Andy Vance, said the shortfall was due to shorter ears carrying 5 1/2 to 6 inches of grain, compared with the 7 to 7 1/2 inches expected.

 

Late plantings, soil compaction, insect damage and weather stress were also possible factors leading to reduced yields.

 

Soy appeared to have fared better than corn and again ran contrary to USDA expectations.

 

Although the tour does not formulate an official estimate of soybean yield potential, crop scouts discover that Illinois soybean fields appear to contain about 6 percent more pods than 2005, a finding which contradicts USDA forecasts for a 4 percent decline in state soy yields this season.

 

Members estimated 1374.7 soybean pods per square yard in Illinois, compared with 1296.8 in 2005.

 

The annual industry crop tour would compile final projections for Iowa and Minnesota, coming to a close Thursday evening in Owatonna, Minnesota.