Big Nebraska Crop

Dan Davidson DTN Agronomist
Bio Email
Tuesday Aug 18, 2009
Nebraska Corn Crop
Pro Farmer editor Chip Flory said “Nebraska’s corn crop is big and by far the best corn crop I’ve ever seen in Nebraska.” And this sentiment was echoed by all the crop scouts in walked corn fields in Nebraska the last two days.
Flory pointed out that ear counts were up significantly in Nebraska this year, roughly 15 ears in 60 foot of row length and ears were a half inch longer on average. Yet girth (rows around) was down slightly at 15.94 rows around compared to 16.29 in 2008.
Along my own tour route paralleling I-80 and about 30 to 40 miles to the south, we had ear count of 90 to 120 in 60’ of row in irrigated corn. And in my 6 years on the tour I have seen nothing like it. However the dryland corn I sampled had ear counts of 60 to 80, still good, but not stupendous.
But the big kicker is the average estimated yield of 158.69 bushels compared to 141.82 bushels in 2008 – which by all measure was the second best crop in Nebraska after 2004 (143 bushels).
Flory pointed out that they routinely underestimate Nebraska yield by about 16 bushels because of sampling time (early) and how they sample irrigated vs. dryland fields (all done at random). So if you add that 16 bushels back into 158 bushel crop, the average yield could hit 172 to 175 bushel. “That is a whole lot of bushels,” said Flory.
The big kicker is ear count and they are up significantly and we can contribute that to very ideal planting conditions and early planting.
The story with soybeans is pod counts and they are up. Cool weather and ample moisture has produced significantly more pods and now we just need the time and moisture to fill them out and particularly in the north. We definitely need a full September to finish out corn and soybeans..
Nebraska has a great crop. Planting went off without a hitch and there has been plenty of timely rains across the state and recording setting cool weather. However the northern half of Nebraska is 10 to 14 days behind schedule with the corn in the milk stage. However corn south of I-80 is maturing and is rapidly completing dough stage and should black layer in 2-3 weeks. Yield in southern Nebraska is already made.
Corn in northern Nebraska was clean of disease and in good conditions albeit for hail damage and being behind while in southern Nebraska has suffered from hail, gray leaf spot, anthracnose, and wind damage. This would have been the year to spray a fungicide and fields that were obviously sprayed were clean.
This will be the year to watch what farmers are corn yields farmers are pulling down beginning a short 6 weeks from now. Pro Farmer editor Chip Flory said “Nebraska’s corn crop is big and by far the best corn crop I’ve ever seen in Nebraska.” And this sentiment was echoed by all the crop scouts in walked corn fields in Nebraska the last two days. Flory pointed out that ear counts were up significantly in Nebraska this year, roughly 15 ears in 60 foot of row length and ears were a half inch longer on average. Yet girth (rows around) was down slightly at 15.94 rows around compared to 16.29 in 2008. Along my own tour route paralleling I-80 and about 30 to 40 miles to the south, we had ear count of 90 to 120 in 60’ of row in irrigated corn. And in my 6 years on the tour I have seen nothing like it. However the dryland corn I sampled had ear counts of 60 to 80, still good, but not stupendous. But the big kicker is the average estimated yield of 158.69 bushels compared to 141.82 bushels in 2008 – which by all measure was the second best crop in Nebraska after 2004 (143 bushels). Flory pointed out that they routinely underestimate Nebraska yield by about 16 bushels because of sampling time (early) and how they sample irrigated vs. dryland fields (all done at random). So if you add that 16 bushels back into 158 bushel crop, the average yield could hit 172 to 175 bushel. “That is a whole lot of bushels,” said Flory. The big kicker is ear count and they are up significantly and we can contribute that to very ideal planting conditions and early planting. The story with soybeans is pod counts and they are up. Cool weather and ample moisture has produced significantly more pods and now we just need the time and moisture to fill them out and particularly in the north. We definitely need a full September to finish out corn and soybeans.. Nebraska has a great crop. Planting went off without a hitch and there has been plenty of timely rains across the state and recording setting cool weather. However the northern half of Nebraska is 10 to 14 days behind schedule with the corn in the milk stage. However corn south of I-80 is maturing and is rapidly completing dough stage and should black layer in 2-3 weeks. Yield in southern Nebraska is already made. Corn in northern Nebraska was clean of disease and in good conditions albeit for hail damage and being behind while in southern Nebraska has suffered from hail, gray leaf spot, anthracnose, and wind damage. This would have been the year to spray a fungicide and fields that were obviously sprayed were clean. This will be the year to watch what farmers are corn yields farmers are pulling down beginning a short 6 weeks from now. ' type=hidden name=article>