VERSAILLES - Corn yield prospects were above average in central and west-central Ohio, but some fields were showing adverse effects from the hot and dry conditions earlier this summer, scouts on an annual crop tour said on Monday.
Soybean pod counts were below average in this part of Ohio, however, those fields had more time to benefit from recent rainfall that could result in more bean pods and bigger beans.
The eastern leg of the four-day Pro Farmer Midwest Crop Tour began in Columbus, Ohio, but the state is a smaller producer and crop conditions here are worse than the two top producing states of Iowa and Illinois that will be surveyed later this week.
Crop scout Peter Meyer, agriculture director of analyst firm PIRA Energy, said western Ohio and eastern Indiana have suffered from moderate drought this year.
"Heading west out of Columbus, it didn't look too bad, but there was a negative progression as we got toward the Indiana border," Meyer said.
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"The corn ears just didn't have the girth to them, you don't feel the weight in them," Meyer added.
Some corn fields were already nearing maturity, with most kernels dented and a few ears "dropping," an indication that plants were dying.
Corn yield prospects after six stops in Madison, Champaign, Shelby and Darke counties averaged 183.8 bushels per acre (bpa), up from last year's your average in those areas of 153.4 bpa and the three-year average of 169.2.
The tour does not make soybean yield projections but instead calculates the number of soybean pods in an average 3-by-3 foot square to gauge yield potential. Those averaged 804 pods, down from 1,092 last year and the three-year average of 1,234 pods.
Nearly half of the soybeans surveyed had some level of weed pressure, which could slightly reduce yields.
Soils in most fields were moist but not muddy, after light showers moved through over the weekend.
"There's no doubt that yields are higher than people were thinking a couple of months ago, but we might have seen the high point in USDA's yield estimate for the year," said another crop scout, a London-based agriculture futures trader.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture surprised grain markets earlier this month with massive hikes to its U.S. corn and soybean production forecasts, with average yields for both crops at a record high.
