From The Rows | Aug. 21, 2023 — Brian Grete (East)

Eastern Tour – Day 1

The 2023 Pro Farmer Crop Tour kicked off in Dublin, Ohio, (a suburb of Columbus), with scouts sampling fields along 11 designated routes to Noblesville, Indiana (a suburb of Indianapolis).

My route took me southwest out of Dublin through crop districts 5 and 4. Hot temps are on the way, but conditions were pleasant today.

Corn yields ranged from 92 bu. to 215 bu. per acre, with an average yield of 172.3 bu. per acre. Ear counts were fairly consistent along my route, ranging from 92 to 114. Fields on the lower end of that range had skips in rows, the result of some of the planting struggles last spring due to wetness. Average grain length ranged from 4.4 inches to 7.5 inches. The one takeaway I noted from my route was the lack of maturity. Our samples ranged from blister to early dough. The crop is going to need time to finish and some rains in September to realize full yield potential.  

Soybean pod counts in a 3’x3’ square along my route averaged 1123 pods, with a range from 799 to 1767. The beans were relatively uniform, green and healthy. That’s not always the case in Ohio. We didn’t find any soybeans that were flowering, meaning the plant must now work to sustain and fill the pods that are already there. That’s going to take some timely late-season rains. My biggest takeaway was that the soybeans along my route were relatively flat. Once again, the crop will need moisture to finish strong. I and several other scouts noted more double-crop soybeans that we remembered seeing in recent years.

Final Day 1 observations

I’ve said many times over the years Ohio is a “hit or miss” state. Based on our results today, there were more hits than misses. That doesn’t mean Ohio has a record crop, but it could be close if late-season conditions are favorable. There was probably too much variability in the corn crop from what I saw to challenge the 2021 record yield of 193 bu. per acre.

USDA pegged the Ohio corn yield at 191 bu. per acre in August, up 4 bu. (2.1%) from last year. The average yield from the samples pulled from the state on the first day of the Pro Farmer Crop Tour was 183.94 bu. per acre, up 5.6% from last year but below 185.06 in 2021. This year’s Tour ear counts, grain length and kernel rows around were all up from year-ago and the three-year averages. Historically back to 2001, the Crop Tour has measured the Ohio corn crop 4.2 bu. per acre too light. Adding the average miss to this year’s results would produce a yield of ??? bu. per acre.

USDA pegged the Ohio soybean yield at a record 57 bu. per acre in August, up 1.5 bu. (2.7%) from last year. The average soybean pod count in a 3'x3' square in Ohio came in at 1252.93 pods, up 10.7% from last year on Crop Tour. There are a lot of pods in Ohio... will the crop have time moisture and time to reach its full yield potential?

Results from Ohio showed many areas of the state rebounded from a late start and benefitted from timely summer rains. Soil moisture was better than many years, but some timely late-season rainfall will still be needed for crops to reach their full potential.    

Scouts will finish sampling Indiana on Tuesday before heading into eastern Illinois. Indiana results will be released Tuesday evening.