Production Blog

Crop Tour Musings: A Matter of Maturity

Crop scouts will record observations from Ohio and South Dakota during the first day of the Pro Farmer crop tour on Monday, August 19. (DTN photo by Pamela Smith)

COLUMBUS, Ohio (DTN) -- A Sunday drive across Illinois, Indiana and Ohio revealed a crop that needs a drink and more days than usual to reach harvest.

I've joined 50-plus other crop scouts in Columbus, Ohio, in preparation for the Pro Farmer Midwest Crop Tour. On Monday, we'll begin pulling samples from Ohio and parts of Indiana. Scouts on the Western tour will report from South Dakota and parts of Nebraska.

Brian Grete, Pro Farmer managing editor and senior market analyst told DTN that Ohio yields are anticipated to be among some of the best on this year's tour. He was also less concerned about early frost in Ohio since planting was generally timely and first frost dates are generally later than in other parts of the Midwest.

P[L1] D[0x0] M[300x250] OOP[F] ADUNIT[] T[]

As tour participants gathered, talk soon turned to the maturity of the crop -- or lack of it across many parts of Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota and the Dakotas. This past week, a central Illinois grower told DTN the first of his corn crop should reach black layer on September 26 -- based on 111 RM hybrids and growing degree unit estimates. The fact that additional dry-down is desired beyond black layer puts him right up against the average killing frost date for his farm.

Grete told scouts some soybean fields might be found that are still blooming. As the tour reaches Iowa and Minnesota, participants were also advised to not include prevented planted acreage into yield tallies. "We're looking for harvestable acres," Grete said. Fields with drowned spots will be counted.

The green crop is a stark contrast to the droughty conditions found during the 2012 tour. However, I did notice several fields in Indiana in obvious need of rain. Others were showing nitrogen stress.

The next few days should be interesting, but I what I saw today can be summed up with one word: Late.

Pamela Smith can be reached at Pamela.smith@telventdtn.com

P[] D[728x170] M[320x75] OOP[F] ADUNIT[] T[]
P[L2] D[728x90] M[320x50] OOP[F] ADUNIT[] T[]

Comments

To comment, please Log In or Join our Community .