In-Field Yield Variability the Rule in 2015

Huffman harvest

Corn and soybean yields all over the map could easily be the recurring headline for the 2015 harvest. In Tippecanoe County just east of Lafayette Levi Huffman has yields that fit that description, and it is what he expected all season long. As HAT rode along with Huffman Monday afternoon he explained how the weather starting in July saved his soybean crop.

“On this bean field here, probably before the middle of July, it was pale and the stalks had not filled out to fill in the rows where you couldn’t see the dirt. Then we started getting sunshine in the middle of July and they started greening up and getting a lot of foliage on them and turned around. I think from that point on we really gained our yields.”

According to Huffman those yields have ranged from “57 bushels clear down to 40 bushels on some ground that was susceptible to a lot of water, and this field here is probably more like 60-65 so far.”

But in that field we say some variability with areas that had been washed out early in the season.

“We’re seeing all the way to up 65 and even some 70’s and then all the way down to 8 where we had water damage,” he said. “We’re hoping that the better beans where they didn’t have water damage has enough yield to counteract the wet spots we have.”

The corn yields have ranged from over 200 bushels to the acre down to the 100 bpa vicinity for whole field averages. Huffman has harvested just 200 acres of corn but believes that variability will continue throughout harvest. His best corn each year is where he grew tomatoes the previous year. Hear more about that in the HAT interview:Levi Huffman harvest ride