Drought Sacks Corn in South Dakota, Ohio Crop Doesn't Look Great, Either

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Estimating crop quality when you’re driving down the road is rarely useful. As the old saying goes, looks can be deceiving.

That’s true for corn and soybeans in southeast South Dakota, where the western leg of the 2022 Pro Farmer Crop Tour got underway this morning. Recent rain has greened up both crops and even grass in ditches along the roads.

“If guys are driving down the road and think they’re going to have 150-bushel corn crop here, they need to take the 1 off,” says Flory, quoting a farmer he talked with last week. 

“I thought he was exaggerating the situation, but now that I’ve seen it, he’s not. This corn has experienced a lot of bad days,” adds Flory, host of AgriTalk and leader of the western leg of the tour, which will go through parts of South Dakota, Nebraska and Iowa before finishing up in Minnesota.

Flory had just completed his fourth stop for the morning when he talked to Davis Michaelsen, AgriTalk guest host, and provided the less than stellar crop overview for South Dakota.

Last year, farmers in the state averaged about 140 bu. per acre in corn and 41 bu. per acre in soybeans at harvest. Depending on the weather, beans could still pack on some yield, Flory says, but he is less optimistic about corn yields based on what he’s seen today.

He references what his daughter, Emily, who’s been on the tour 12 years, found in corn sampled this morning.

“She called me on her phone from within a field and said, ‘Hey, come out here and help me find some ears,’” Flory told Michaelsen. “We found nine ears in 60 foot of row, and there should have been at least 85 to 90 ears or so. These fields had poor pollination and soils are dry.”

Further north in the state, Flory adds, tour scouts have seen somewhat better crops but not by much. 

“The crop is better when you head west of Sioux Falls and stay within eight to 10 miles of Interstate 90,” Flory says. “But it’s still doggone tough out here.”

Hear Flory’s complete report from South Dakota here:

On the eastern leg of the tour, Brian Grete, Pro Farmer Editor, is in Ohio where he says there is plenty of moisture but a lot of variability in both corn and soybeans. 

“Last year was the best Ohio corn crop I’d ever seen,” Grete recalls. “Unfortunately, I think it’s safe to say the corn crop yield here will be lower than last year. We’re seeing populations are down, ear length isn’t quite there and quite a bit of kernel abortion,” he adds.

As of noon today, Grete’s team had made five stops, south of Dayton, Ohio, to evaluate and estimate crops.

“This happens to be the route I’m on, there are not a lot of corn and soybeans in this area,” he says. 

Soybeans on his route look somewhat better than corn, but Grete says he still sees a wide range of quality. 

“In soybeans I saw one 60 bu. crop. Again, there’s too much variability for the crop to hit maximum yields. It’s going to be all over the place in yields,” he says. 

“There are a lot of fields still flowering. It’s plenty wet here, so it’s just a matter of what yield potential is out here and then getting it to the finish line,” he adds.

Later today, Grete’s team is headed to Indiana, then on to Illinois and will finish up in Minnesota, where scouts will connect with the team members on the western leg of the tour.

You can hear Grete’s morning report in full here: