After an extremely wet growing season for Ohio we were not sure quite what to expect in the 2017 I-75/I-71 Ohio Crop Tour. We had heard about dry weather, but were surprised how dry some fields were, especially in the northwestern part of the state.
There were certainly some examples that showed up in fields on the 2017 I-75/I-71 Ohio Crop Tour displaying evidence of those challenging conditions. We found some corn still pollinating to dented after the spread out planting season for many this spring. But, at the same time, we saw many more examples of how solid farm management practices made the most of some challenging weather situations and others capitalized on timely rains. The Tour was sponsored by AgroLiquid.
In the West, the I-75 group had an average corn yield of 169 bushels on Day 1 and 183 bushels on Day 2. The Eastern leg of the Ohio Crop Tour averaged 180 bushels on Day 1 and 166 bushels on Day 2. The total tour average was 174.5. The samplers felt that this is a good number for the fields we sampled, but probably a little high overall due to the fact that the many holes in corn stands from the wet spring were not necessarily considered in the yield estimates. The formula used in estimating corn yields is accurate plus or minus 30 bushels for the areas of the fields sampled and the Crop Tour is designed to simply provide a snapshot of yields around the state.
The other key factor for the Ohio corn and soybean yields is that many of these fields still have a long way to go. We found multiple fields of corn still silking and so early developmentally that it was really difficult to assess yields. Soybeans especially could be made or broken by the rains (or lack of) yet to come.
Across the board we found solid, consistent soybean fields in the east. They were healthy and there was little disease pressure and the insects had been there but had moved on. The west had more inconsistency with rising levels of disease pressure as we moved to the south. There were some really good looking fields and some very poor fields along the way.
Here are links for more details about the 2017 I-75/I-71 Ohio Crop Tour.
