Eastern Tour – Day 1
The 2024 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 straight west out of Dublin through crop districts 5 and 4. Weather conditions were mild – almost chilly, especially for August – with highs in the low 70s through midday, partly cloudy/sunny skies and a breeze.
Corn yields along my route ranged from 128.8 bu. to 244 bu. per acre, with an average yield of 193.7 bu. per acre. Ear counts were fairly consistent along my route, ranging from 80 to 117. Fields on the lower end of that range had skips in rows and/or blank stalks, though that was the exception, not the norm. Average grain length ranged from 6 inches to 8.2 inches. A change I’ve seen in Ohio corn fields of late is higher ear populations and improved grain length. That combination has allowed Ohio to produce stronger yields more comparable to the “I” states.
Soybean pod counts in a 3’x3’ square along my route averaged 1295.6 pods, with a range from 904.8 to 1976. The beans were uniform, lush, 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 sustain and fill the pods that are already there. However, other scouting teams found some soybeans that were flowering. Soil moisture levels along my route were ample after recent rains, so soybeans have the what’s needed to produce a big crop. I was really impressed with the soybeans my route sampled today.
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. If it wasn’t for last year’s record-breaking crop year in Ohio, I may have been talking about this year’s crops as among the best I’ve ever seen in the state. That could still end up being the case for soybeans, though I think there’s too much variability in the state’s corn crop to best last year’s record.
USDA pegged the Ohio corn yield at 188 bu. per acre in August, down 10 bu. (5.1%) from last year. The average yield from the samples pulled from the state on the first day of the Pro Farmer Crop Tour was 183.3 bu. per acre, down 0.4% from last year. This year’s Tour ear counts and kernel rows around were up from year-ago and the three-year averages but grain length was down. Historically back to 2001, the Crop Tour has measured the Ohio corn crop 4.6 bu. per acre too light. Adding the average miss to this year’s results would produce a yield of 187.9 bu. per acre, which is 0.1 bu. below USDA’s August estimate for the state.
USDA pegged the Ohio soybean yield at a record 59 bu. per acre in August, up 1 bu. (1.7%) from last year. The average soybean pod count in a 3’x3' square in Ohio came in at 1229.9 pods, down 1.7% from last year on Crop Tour. There are a lot of pods in Ohio, giving it strong yield potential, especially with some of the key production areas having ample soil moisture to fill pods.