Farm tour finds corn, soybeans lag 2010 yields

8/22/2011

Corn yields from central to northwestern Ohio are likely to be worse than last year after hot weather slowed growth, and soybean-pod counts may decline, based on field inspections during the first day of the annual Pro Farmer Midwest Crop Tour.

Nine samples from corn fields from seven counties in Ohio Monday indicated an average yield of 157.7 bushels an acre, tour participants said. Ohio was the eighth-biggest U.S. producer last year. That would be 4.8 percent less than the 165.7 bushels estimated from the area in 2010, Pro Farmer data show. The U.S. Department of Agriculture said Aug. 11 that average yields in the state will fall 3.1 percent to 158 bushels an acre from 163 bushels last year.

Nine soybean fields inspected by tour participants on one route Monday had 730 pods on average for each sampling of three square feet, down 38 percent from 1,178 pods in the same area a year earlier, Pro Farmer data show.