I-71 Day 2

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.

Interviews from the Tour

County: Delaware

Height: 38 inches
General Condition: Very good looking field, but not as heavily podded as would be expected 
Disease Pressure: Low
Insect Pressure: Low
Pod Fill: Very good
Yield Estimate: 51 bushels
Population: 180,000
Overall Rating of Field: Excellent looking field. Estimated yield could be on the low side.

County: Union

Height: 7 feet tall
General Condition: Field looks good
Disease Pressure: Low
Insect Pressure: Low
Ear Fill: Fair to good
Population: 28,000
Yield Estimate: 147 bushels
Overall Rating of Field: Nice looking field but clearly hurt by tough conditions this season

County: Franklin

Height: 47 inches
General Condition: Great looking field, best and most consistent we’ve seen.
Disease Pressure: Low
Insect Pressure: Low, some bean leaf beetle feeding
Pod Fill: Good
Yield Estimate: 71 bushels
Population: 190,000
Overall Rating of Field: Really nice field of tall, consistent and well podded beans.

County: Madison

Height: 8 feet 
General Condition: Good to fare, some plants firing at the bottom
Disease Pressure: Low to moderate with gray leaf spot, northern corn leaf blight and rust below the ear
Insect Pressure: Low
Ear Fill: Fair
Population: 30,000
Yield Estimate: 159 bushels
Overall Rating of Field: Yield estimate seems high for this field that looks like yields should be closer to 145 or so.

County: Pickaway

Height: 30 inches
General Condition: Good to very good. 
Disease Pressure: Low with some disease on bottom leaves.
Insect Pressure: Low with some bean leaf beetle feeding
Pod Fill: Good to very good
Yield Estimate: 65 bushels
Population: 139,000 
Overall Rating of Field: Good to fair. Shorter beans but that is not always bad.

County: Fairfield

Height: 5 feet 
General Condition: Poor to very poor
Disease Pressure: Moderate ear smut and leaf blight
Insect Pressure: Low to moderate
Ear Fill: Poor
Population: 25,000
Yield Estimate: 62 bushels
Overall Rating of Field: This is easily the worst field we’ve seen on the trip so far. Many blank ears and very poor pollination.

County: Ross

Height: 38 inches
General Condition: Good, though there is quite a bit of variation in pods per plant and the field is still flowering so it could have more or fewer pods depending on rainfall. 
Disease Pressure: Low
Insect Pressure: Low, but there are signs of spider mites on field edges.
Pod Fill: Fair
Yield Estimate: 55 bushels but will be dependent on rainfall in coming weeks.
Population: 160,000
Overall Rating of Field: The 55 bushel estimate is at the high end of the yield range for this field, depending on rain.

County: Highland

Height: 8 feet
General Condition: good
Disease Pressure: Moderate with some northern corn leaf blight.
Insect Pressure: Low
Ear Fill: Fair to good.
Population: 26,500
Yield Estimate: 158 bushels
Overall Rating of Field: There is some firing from dry conditions and signs of water stress.

County: Fayette

Height: 37 inches
General Condition: Good 
Disease Pressure: Low to medium
Insect Pressure: High with bean leaf beetle and grasshopper feeding.
Pod Fill: Good
Yield Estimate: 59 bushels
Population: 170,000
Overall Rating of Field: Fair to good. This is the heaviest insect pressure we have seen on the trip.

County: Clinton

Height: 8.5 feet 
General Condition: Good to very good.
Disease Pressure: Low to moderate, with some gray leaf spot.
Insect Pressure: Low
Ear Fill: good
Population: 31,000
Yield Estimate: 165 bushels
Overall Rating of Field: This is one of the better fields we have been in.