STAR CITY, Ind. - Corn and soybean fields in central and east-central Indiana are generally on track for bigger-than-average harvests, scouts on the second day of an annual crop tour said on Tuesday.
Plant health was more consistent than the variable crops that the scouts on the four-day Pro Farmer Midwest Crop Tour viewed in western Ohio on Monday, they said, and fields have received recent rainfall.
Some soybeans were moderately stressed by weeds, and some corn ears did not fully fill with grain, a condition called "tipback" that results from hot weather during pollination, but each crop was in better condition than those in neighboring Ohio.
"Overall, the corn crop looks good up here," said retired farmer and crop scout Pat Buell. "Very little disease. I suppose maturity is on track for this area, and not a lot of tipback like we saw yesterday in Ohio."
Big yields are needed for the U.S. Department of Agriculture to realize its latest forecast for record-large U.S. crops.
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The agency predicted Indiana corn yields would average 187 bushels per acre, up from 150 bpa in 2015, and that soybean yields would rise to 55 bpa from 50 bpa.
Through eight stops on two routes through the state, corn yield prospects averaged 174.6 bpa, up from 144.7 bpa last year and the three-year tour average of 164.8 bpa. Scouts surveyed fields in Henry, Madison, Tipton, Howard, Carroll and Cass counties, with yields ranging from 146 to 216 bpa.
One field in Cass County had sandy soil common in the state, limiting yields on ground that hold less moisture. A field in Carroll County had worms feeding on corn ears, a possible sign that the farmer opted for cheaper, conventional seeds lacking biotech pest resistance.
Soybean pods per square yard (0.8 square meter) plot averaged 1,379.8 pods, up from 1,182.8 in these districts last year and the three-year average of 1,203.3.
The tour does not project soybean yields but instead calculates the number of pods per square yard to gauge yield potential.
The tour's eastern leg began in Columbus, Ohio, and the western leg in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. The two groups will converge in Rochester, Minnesota, on Thursday, and Pro Farmer will issue its U.S. crop forecasts on Friday.
Both legs on Monday pegged corn yields and soybean pod counts below the tour's three-year averages in Ohio and South Dakota.
