From The Rows August 24, 2022 - Chip Flory (West)

Thoughts from Day 2 & 3 – Western Leg Pro Farmer Crop Tour

• Is more always better? The soybean plant is amazing. Give it space and it will use it... and it will use it to grow branches to carry more pods. I know – the “safer bet” is to stick with the population you know will work to make a good bean yield. But – if a bean field is hailed to the point that it halves the plant population – don’t give up on it.
• “It doesn’t look like Nebraska conditions hopped the Missouri River.” That was one of my comments on this morning’s AgriTalk. That was after dead-heading to the north and taking one sample before the morning show. I went on to finish my route and ended with an average corn yield on my route of 158.8 bu. per acre, just a half-bushel above this year’s average for Nebraska’s corn crop. Moral of that story – let the Tour work... let it be the discovery process that it is... and don’t make up your mind about what your route until the final sample is pulled.
• “Expectations have flipped in 30 days.” I heard that one tonight... I thought it was interesting. On August 1, farmers thought corn would be the impressive crop and beans would be disappointing. Today, few expect to be impressed with corn but they are still holding out hope for the bean crop.
• “August 5-6-7.” In Nebraska City, one of the attendees explained southeastern Nebraska saw 100-degree temps and a 30-mph winds. It turned some cornfields white and ears started to drop after that happened. “Those days were really bad days for the Nebraska corn crop.”
• Bean crop cleaned up. The bean crop in western Iowa is much more weed-free than the crop west of the Missouri River. Don’t let down your watch... could change in the next few days, but the western Iowa bean crop is clean.
• SDS is starting up. It’s that time of the year. It could still change the outlook for the bean crop.

A couple of observations on the Nebraska corn crop that I didn’t have time to make last night.

• Irrigated corn yield in Nebraska this year was 186.24, down 6% from last year.
• Dryland corn yield in Nebraska this year was 135.65, down 18.4% from last year.

Dryland corn led the way to the downside, but irrigated corn in Nebraska only slowed the decline from last year. The issues that led to the 13.1% decline in the Nebraska corn yield from year-ago can’t be blamed only on a lack of rain. A less-than-ideal emergence season for the crop gets some of the blame, as does heat during pollination. And wind that came with heat shouldn’t be discounted as a factor that pulled the yield down from last year.

We are set to wrap up the 2022 Crop Tour. Western scouts will cover southern Minnesota from Pipestone to Rochester. It’s sure to be another day of discovery.