September 1, 2010

Trip Report - Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio

On August 29th I traveled through central and east-central Illinois, all of Indiana, and northwestern Ohio. The hot and dry weather has certainly accelerating the development of the crops. As an indication of just how dry it has become, many of the cottonwood, sycamore, and walnut trees are now starting to drop their leaves. Here are my observations concerning the corn and soybean crops in the eastern Corn Belt

Illinois corn

• All of central and east-central Illinois is very dry.
• The corn crop is maturing and drying down extremely fast.
• Corn is already being harvested in central and east-central Illinois.
• Silage corn is being harvested.
• Any green corn is being shut down by the hot, dry, and windy conditions.
• Remainder of the corn will be ready to harvest much earlier than normal.
• The ears are smaller than anticipated with a lot of ears showing tip back and smaller girth.
• Illinois corn yield will likely be lower than the 180 bu/ac indicated in August Crop Report

Illinois soybeans

• Heavy pod set on soybeans, potential is good, but many fields running out of moisture.
• Hot and dry conditions forcing soybeans to mature quickly.
• Most fields showing signs of yellowing.
• Moisture stress is evident in any soybean fields that are still green.
• A few soybean fields are ready for harvest, but did not see any soybeans harvested.
• The seed size is small in early maturing fields, some seed even shriveled inside pod.
• Could be difficult to achieve 49.0 bu/ac indicated in August Crop Report.
• Illinois lawns are brown indicating dryness.

Indiana corn

• Entire state is dry, but driest part is the northeast quarter of the state.
• Corn ready to harvest in many locations, remainder of the corn drying very fast.
• A few corn fields already harvested.
• Silage corn being harvested.
• Ears are small with many showing tip back.
• It will be very difficult to achieve the 176 bu/ac indicated in August Crop Report.

Indiana soybeans

• Generally a good pod set, an above average potential in many fields, but running out of moisture.
• Soybeans turning very quickly, some soybeans ready to harvest this week.
• Most fields have various levels of yellowing.
• Moisture stress evident in soybeans that are still green.
• Early maturing soybeans are small in size, some shriveled inside the pod.
• Soybean yields will be below the 49 bu/ac indicated in August Crop Report.
• Lawns are brown everywhere in Indiana.

Ohio corn

• Northwest Ohio is very dry.
• Corn maturing very quickly, some corn ready to harvest, did not see any corn harvested.
• Silage corn being harvested.
• Ears size is smaller than anticipated, many ears with tip back.
• It will be difficult to achieve the 176 bu/ac indicated in the August Crop Report.

Ohio soybeans

• Pod set is good, but most fields are very dry, running out of moisture.
• Soybeans turning yellow very quickly.
• Moisture stress evident in green soybeans.
• Some fields ready for harvest.
• Seed size is small in earliest maturing soybeans.
• Soybean yields might equal the 46 bu/ac indicated in the August Crop Report, but it could be a stretch.