Crop Tour Finds Extremes in Indiana Fields

Crop Tour Finds Extremes in Indiana Fields

The eastern leg of the Pro Farmer Crop Tour moved across Central Indiana on Tuesday. Ty Higgins, traveling with the tour, reports extreme crop variability continued across most of Indiana — not only wide ranges in yield potential, but even in crop development. Scouts reported yield estimates as low as 46.4 bpa in Allen County, 84 bpa in Wells County, and 96 bpa in Adams County. Many saw evidence of lack of maturity, with one scout finding corn that wasn’t even waist high.

Stops in Central Indiana showed some crop improvement. One field in Grant County earned an estimate of 200 bpa, and a stop in Boone County showed some good soybeans. Higgins reported, “The soybeans were recently shot with an herbicide and also recently got a shot of rain. Disease and pest pressures continue to be low; and this first was not only taller, but had a good number of pods on the plants. Our corn yield calculation is 184 and our pod count in a 3 x 3 square is 1073.”  But, he told HAT that the next stop in the same county produced much different results, “Although this corn looked good from the road, the middle part we sampled was awful to say the least. Almost 50% of the field was waist high due to excess rains, so our yield guess of 14 is not a stretch. On the other side of the road were some of the nicest soybeans I have seen this week. The combination of tall plants and pods from top to bottom gave this field a 1458 pod count in a 3 x 3 foot square.”

In Montgomery County, the tour ran into a little rust and frog eye on the soybeans. “Our pod count was 823. The corn was planted in 20 inch rows and the health of the field was very good. A nice change from our previous stop. 178 bushels per acre is our estimate here,” said  Higgins. In Clinton County, the tour found another short crop, “Population in this field was decent and will help this field make 165 bushels this fall. The bean field was bad and getting worse. Some plants were beginning to shut down and the disease pressure was strong. The 2 pods below were from the same row. The pod count here was 755.”  The crew estimated corn yields in Tippecanoe County at 165 bpa and Warren County at 175 bpa.

The final numbers for Indiana came in at 142.94 bushels to the acre for corn and 1093.08 pods of soybeans in a 3 foot by 3 foot square.   Once the tour crossed the border into Illinois, the variability leveled out.  Jarrod Hudson, a DuPont Pioneer Field Agronomist for the central part of The Land of Lincoln, said crops in his area have seen its fair share of challenges, “We had a lot of rain early but, since about the first of July, the rain has shut off. Our corn looks good, but the big question is how big are those holes in the field.”

Day 3 of the Pro Farmer Crop Tour goes from Bloomington, Illinois to Iowa City, Iowa on Wednesday. You can ride right along with the scouts all this week by following the tour online at www.ProFarmer.com. You can also keep track of the progress on twitter with #pftour15 (hashtag p f tour 15).

Reports from the Western arm of the tour were at the other end of the spectrum. The crops in Eastern Nebraska looked good but, as scout Matt Bennett reports, some disease pressure has been noticed, “Disease pressure on our last stop: Green Leaf Syndrome, Northern Corn Leaf Blight, anthracnose, and lodging. Going to need to pick this early.” Paul Neiffer, The Farm CPA, who is also scouting on the western leg, says yield estimates have been holding slightly above the three-year average for the tour, but he has yet to find any 200 bpa corn on his route. The Nebraska corn yield average was put at 165 bpa.