Crop Tour recap!

By Matt Reese and Dusty Sonnenberg

The statewide average estimates on the 2022 Ohio Crop Tour ended up pretty close to the final Ohio USDA numbers for the crop.

According to USDA NASS, Great Lakes Regional Field Office, Ohio’s corn and soybean yields in 2022 were both down from 2021. Ohio’s 2022 average corn yield was 187 bushels per acre, down 6 bushels from 2021. Growers harvested 3.18 million acres for grain, down 5% from 2021. Total production of corn for grain was 595 million bushels, down 8% from 2021. 

USDA NASS had Ohio’s average soybean yield for 2022 at 55.5 bushels per acre, down 1.5 bushels from 2021. Growers harvested 5.08 million acres, up 4% from 2021. Production, at 282 million bushels, was up 1% from 2021. 

Our 2022 Ohio Crop Tour (made possible by Ohio Field Leader, a project of the Ohio Soybean Council and soybean checkoff) included both in-person and a virtual option. Ohio State University Extension educators around the state worked with us on the Virtual Crop Tour. The in-person tour was held Aug. 8 and Aug. 9 with one group heading north and one group heading south. Each group sampled a representative corn and soybean field in 14 counties. Virtual Crop Tour samples were collected throughout that same week around the state. The average yield of all corn fields sampled in the 2022 Ohio Crop Tour was 184.3. The average soybean yield from the in-person tour and the virtual tour from 37 samples of soybean fields around the state was 53.3 bushels.

We followed up with a few of the in-person stops to check the actual yield of the corn and soybean fields sampled. Here’s what we found in bushels.

Defiance County: 156 corn estimate/186 corn actual; 55 soybean estimate/73 soybean actual

Franklin: 199 corn estimate/184 corn actual; 50 soybean estimate/51 beans actual

Greene County: 236 corn estimate/ 280 corn actual; 60 soybean estimate/ 71 soybean actual

Henry County: 158 corn estimate/170.5 corn actual; 60+ soybean estimate/ 81.46 soybean actual

Madison County: 191 corn estimate/218 corn actual; 55 soybean estimate/62 soybean actual   

Pickaway County: 202 corn estimate/210 corn actual; 60+ soybean estimate/ 68 soybean actual

Putnam County: 225 corn estimate/200 corn actual; 60 soybean estimate/65 soybean actual

Shelby County: 175 corn estimate/241 corn actual; 60 soybean estimate/74 soybean actual  

Wyandot County: 210 corn estimate/236 corn actual; 60 soybean estimate/69 soybean actual