Crop Watch: Iowa corn yields jump after busy harvest week -Braun
The opinions expressed here are those of the author, a market analyst for Reuters.
Both Iowa locations now expecting record corn yields
Strong harvest pace last week for 10 of 11 Crop Watch locations
Four bean fields harvested last week, four more due this week
By Karen Braun
NAPERVILLE, Illinois, Oct 7 (Reuters) -Warm and dry weather across the U.S. Corn Belt last week allowed for Crop Watch producers to make speedy harvest progress, and early results are very promising in top corn grower Iowa.
Most Crop Watch producers reported soybeans as the focus of last week’s harvest efforts, but some noted corn was also in the mix.
Four of 22 Crop Watch fields were harvested over the last week, all soybeans, bringing the total number of finished fields to 10. Four more bean fields are planned for this week, which would complete the 2024 Crop Watch soybean harvest.
One corn field is planned for this week (western Illinois), but many producers are targeting next week for their corn. Those not finished with beans plan to harvest them aggressively this week, and another week of widespread dry and warm weather will be supportive.
RESULTS
The harvest of four more soybean fields last week dropped the 11-field average soybean yield slightly to 3.39 from 3.41 a week earlier. Minnesota came in at the predicted 3 and Indiana notched a 5, but South Dakota finished at 2.75, a half-point below expectations.
That was partly offset by the bean result in southeastern Illinois of 4.5, a quarter-point above the pre-harvest score.
Crop Watch producers rate yield potential on a 1-to-5 scale throughout the season, finalizing the score upon harvest. Yield potential incorporates both visible and nonvisible elements where 3 is around farm average yield, 4 is solidly above average and 5 is record or close to it.
While some of the Crop Watch soybean results have disappointed, including in western Iowa and South Dakota, the Indiana yield was well above record and the producer anecdotally mentions that he would score it 6 if he could.
The Iowa producers may feel the same way about their corn, as the eastern Iowa producer said the true score is more like a “5.5 or 6.” The western Iowa producer described some of the early corn results as “unreal.”
Although the fields have not yet been harvested, both Iowa corn yields rose to 5 from 4.5 in the prior week, and the South Dakota producer also bumped up corn by a quarter-point to 3.
Those moves increased the 11-field average corn score to 3.41 from 3.3 a week earlier, the biggest weekly corn yield rise this season. That is below the year-ago final of 3.82, but corn yields across the heavy-producing I-states are predicted to be stronger this year than last.
Karen Braun is a market analyst for Reuters. Views expressed above are her own.
Graphic- Crop Watch Producers 2024 https://tmsnrt.rs/44kerF2
Writing by Karen Braun
Editing by Matthew Lewis
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