THIS WEEK ON U.S. FARM REPORT
EPISODE # 2037
AUGUST 25-26, 2012
JOHN’S OPEN:
Hello and welcome to U.S. Farm Report, I’m John Phipps. Our colleagues at pro Farmer drew global attention as they went into the fields to generate their outlook for corn and soybeans this week. Al has all the numbers. But in this unusual year, real-time numbers have been pouring in as well. While these are mostly from the hardest hit and therefore driest crop areas, we moved our record for early harvest up by 24 days by harvesting our first field of corn on August 22. The yields? I'll just say they were less than we hoped but more than we feared. A little bit more. Still even with grim results, seeing an empty field provides some strange sort of relief. At least it can't get any worse.
CROP TOUR:
The 2012 Pro Farmer Midwest crop tour is now in the books. And the outcomes are being closely watched in the industry. First we'll start with corn estimates. Pro farmer estimates the overall national corn yield at just over 120 bushels an acre, with a total production of 10.4 billion bushels.
For soybeans, Pro Farmer puts the crop at 2.6 billion bushels with an average yield of 34.8 bushels to the acre. While the scouts saw drought damage to the crop, it was not as severe as the corn crop. In the eastern cornbelt, scouts say stand ability and stalk quality were the primary issues aside from the drought. The result - dismal yields in Indiana. As far as soybeans, the scouts said the factors remained the same - too much heat, too little rain and not enough pods. On the western leg, potential yields in Nebraska and Iowa varied widely. Tour director Chip Flory says yields are down, though to a lesser extreme than some other areas. Some scouts saw harvest underway in western Iowa, which is weeks ahead of normal. Our crop tour agronomist says crops still standing could still use some help.
ROUNDTABLE:
Time now for the inside word on this year's Pro Farmer Midwest Crop Tour. Pro Farmer Editor Chip Flory leads our discussion...
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