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Last Updated: Aug 24th, 2008 - 08:41:39 |
This year’s Pro Farmer Midwest Crop Tour - sponsored by John Deere Risk Protection and Pioneer Hi-Bred - has come to a close. After crop scouts sampled fields in Illinois, Indiana, Minnesota, Ohio, South Dakota, and Iowa - Pro Farmer released its official estimates of the U.S. corn and soybean crops.
Pro Farmer estimates a corn yield of 153.3-bushels per acre for a 12.152-billion bushel harvest. For soybeans - the yield estimate is 39.95-bushels per acre with production estimated at 2.930-billion bushels.
On August 12th, USDA projected a national corn yield of 155 bushels per acre and a soybean yield of 40.5 bushels per acre.
Chip Flory - Pro Farmer Editor and leader of the western leg of the tour - says the estimates assume a normal finish to the growing season. That includes - he says - a normal first frost date. To allow for weather changes between now and crop maturity - he says Pro Farmer is putting a range of plus-or-minus one-percent on the corn yield estimate and plus or minus two-percent on the soybean yield estimate.
According to Flory - the corn crop in the seven states scouted faces four big challenges. He says nitrogen is running short - it’s too dry - development is behind schedule and root development is shallow. The big challenge for soybeans - Flory says - is the lack of moisture.
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| A Nebraska corn and soybean field that were both sampled during the Pro Farmer Midwest Crop Tour. |
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