The latest crop progress report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), 67 percent of the corn crop was rated good to excellent. Indiana is lagging behind with only 45 percent of its crop in that category.
Brad Matthews, branch manager of Roach Ag Marketing, says states in the eastern Corn Belt are the reason the national rating is down. He says while Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio are behind, there’s also unevenness in the stands.
“We don’t have the plants out in the field to achieve the yields that we saw the last couple of years,” said Matthews.
If that yield comes down as Matthews believes could happen, he thinks it could take until harvest time until the USDA brings down their estimate on national average yield.
“In 2015, it was kind of similar—the east had some problems and the west had record crops and it was a 168 [bushel per acre average] and that was with record crop,” he said. “I think it will be very difficult to achieve that 171 yield.”
Hear what Matthews has to say about pollination and how a two to three week delay will impact crops on AgDay above.
