My route took me west out of Noblesville, Indiana, through crop districts 5 (central) and 4 (west-central) in Indiana. Crops along my route looked really good from the road and didn’t disappoint from the samples we pulled.
In 10 stops in Indiana, my route had an average corn yield of 201.3 bu., with a range of 148.6 bu. to 227.9 bu. per acre. Ear counts in two 30 foot rows were strong, ranging from 98 to 119. Grain length was also strong, ranging from an average of 5.75 to 7.75 inches. Maturity on my route ranged from late dough to dent. The Indiana corn crop lived up to lofty expectations along my route, with six of the 10 samples above 200 bu. per acre.
Pod counts in 3’x3’ square along my route averaged 1387.5. The range on our 10 samples was 291.3 (double-crop field that was flowering) to 2007.2. The soybeans we sampled were relatively clean and disease free, though we observed fields with excess water hemp and volunteer corn as we traversed along our route. Top soil moisture was drier as we moved toward the Illinois border, though there’s subsoil moisture, so it shouldn’t be a problem with a late-season rain or two to finish the crop. The Indiana soybean crop along my route showed a lot of yield potential.
I was impressed with both the corn and soybean crops along my route, both of which USDA estimated at record yields as of Aug. 1. Of the two, soybeans were the most impressive to me.
Weather on Day 2 was again spectacular with highs in the 70s and partly sunny skies.
Final Day 2 observations
Corn ear counts are
Soybeans are
The Crop Tour average corn yield of 187.54 bu. per acre for Indiana was up 3.7% from last year and 1.9% above the three-year average. USDA’s Aug. 1 corn yield was up 2.0% from last year at a record 207 bu. per acre. Since 2001, Crop Tour data has been an average of 4.2 bu. too low for Indiana. If you add that to this year’s Crop Tour yield, it would be 191.7 bu., well below USDA’s Aug. 1 estimate.
The average pod count in a 3’x3’ square totaled 1409.02, up 7.6% from what we found last year on Crop Tour. Pod counts in the state were up 13.8% from the three-year Tour average. This year’s Indiana pod count was the fourth highest ever behind 1994, 1998 and 2002, though soybeans are much different than they were then. Yield potential per pod is higher than it was then.