In our first ever Ohio Crop Tour, we split up into two groups of farmers, agronomists and farm journalists and toured the state to get a handle on what kinds of crop yields were out there. One group handled the western part of the state traveling the I-75 corridor and the other went down I-71. Overall, both groups saw quite a bit of variability, but yields averaged 139 bushels for corn and 59 bushels for soybeans. The I-71 group averaged 144 bushels for corn and the I-75 group had 134 bushels. In terms of soybean averages, the I-71 group had 59.5 bushels and the I-75 group averaged 58.75. In general, both groups felt they had a fairly accurate handle on corn, but thought the soybean formula was maybe 10% to 15% too high. Here are some of the County results.

Audio interviews from the Tour

County: Mercer

 

Height: 6 ft. 2 inches
General Condition: Good, some bare stalks and lots of variability. 20 inch rows
Disease Pressure: little, gray leaf spot
Insect Pressure: light spider mites
Ear Fill: good
Population: 32,750
Yield Estimate: 138 bu/acre
Overall Rating of Field: Good

County: Darke

Height: 35 inches
General Condition: Excellent. Actually ran into the farmer. He said there were emergence issues and then he spot filled some of the field. In the last two weeks the field had recieved 2 inches of rain.
Disease Pressure: light, septoria
Insect Pressure: light, corn rootworm bettle
Pod Fill: Very good, 3 bean average. Because of spot fill was variation in
Yield Estimate: 69 bu/acre
Population: 142,000
Overall Rating of Field: Excellent

County: Shelby

Height: 7 1/2 feet
General Condition: Good, but weedy. Lots of foxtail, giant ragweed.
Disease Pressure: None
Insect Pressure: Ear worms and some spider mites
Ear Fill: Good, some tip back. Early dent stage
Population:  28,500
Yield Estimate: 201 bu/acre
Overall Rating of Field:  Found hard to believe that this was our highest yielding field so far. Didn’t appear that was going to be the case when we pulled up.

County: Miami

Height: 35 inches
General Condition: Excellent
Disease Pressure: little septoria and sudden death
Insect Pressure: little leaf feeding
Pod Fill: very good, pods complete
Yield Estimate: 68 bu/acre
Population: 180,000
Overall Rating of Field: Excellent, farthest along beans we’ve saw so far

County: Champaign

Height: 6 ft 2 inches
General Condition: Dry and poor. Likely planted in early April. Estimated two weeks from harvest.
Disease Pressure: Some rust
Insect Pressure: None
Ear Fill: Poor, small zipper ears
Population/Harvestable Ears : 25,000
Yield Estimate: 66 bu/acre
Overall Rating of Field: Very poor

County: Clark

Height: 33 inches
General Condition: Good
Disease Pressure: little bit of sudden death
Insect Pressure: leaf bettle feeding
Pod Fill: Good, completed
Yield Estimate: 66 bu/acre
Population: 142,000
Overall Rating of Field: Good

County: Montgomery

Height: 6 ft. 8 inches
General Condition: Poor and dry. Extreme variability
Disease Pressure: little bit of gray leaf
Insect Pressure: none
Ear Fill: Poor and inconsistent
Population: 27,000
Yield Estimate: 111 bu/acre
Overall Rating of Field: Poor

County: Preble

Height: 31 inches
General Condition: Good
Disease Pressure: little bit of septoria and brown spot
Insect Pressure: light grasshopper
Pod Fill: good and still filling
Yield Estimate: 52 bu/acre
Population:  183,000
Overall Rating of Field: Good (farmer came out and said the field was planted May 5th)

County: Bulter

Height: 7 ft. 2 inches
General Condition: Poor and dry
Disease Pressure: None
Insect Pressure: Significant root worm damage
Ear Fill: Good
Population: 23,750
Yield Estimate: 133 bu/acre
Overall Rating of Field:  Fair to Poor

County: Warren

Height: 38 inches
General Condition: Very Good
Disease Pressure: None
Insect Pressure: None
Pod Fill: Good, still flowering
Yield Estimate: 63 bu/acre
Population: 131,500
Overall Rating of Field: Excellent. Appears they were late planted