Déjà vu All Over Again?
Aug 12, 2009
Remember a year ago? A lot of us in this industry, me included, looked at USDA’s projected corn yields and gave a collective, “No way. Those guys in D.C. are crazy if they think corn will yield 153 bu./acre.” I imagine a lot of you are having the same reaction this morning with USDA’s call for a national average 159.5. bu./acre, what with the problems the Eastern Corn Belt experienced with late planting.
(You can get a complete recap of the reports here.)
Last year’s weather woes created many anxious moments through the growing season, all the way up until much of the Midwest had a normal frost date or later. The season finished strong and though USDA was a tad high on its August call, they were still pretty close.
So, what do you think? Is USDA on target or are their projection way too high considering the weather issues we had this spring?
Crop Tour Will Tell
Next week the Pro Famer Midwest Crop Tour makes it way from South Dakota to Ohio to get an in-field look at the crop. This is the first estimate that will account for actual ear counts on corn and pod counts on soybeans. The picture should become more clear next week. It may even uncover a few
surprises like it did last year when the close examination showed the crop looked much better in person than it did from the road.
The Tweeting Tour
Get an up-to-the-minute accounting of the tour next week by following us on Twitter. The official Pro Farmer Midwest Crop Tour Twitter site can be found
here. I’ll meet up with the tour on Tuesday night in Nebraska City, Nebraska, and I’ll
Twitter here.
