Record yields on both row crops. That’s the final estimate from Pro Farmer’s Annual Crop Tour. 181.1 bushels per acre on corn and 54.9 B-P-A on soybeans. Eastern Tour Leg Leader Brian Grete says, as always, it’s a snapshot in time. However, he does like what he saw out in the fields with around 30 days left in the growing season for most.
“Kernel depth seemed good. Actually, I didn’t see an issue with that. Some of the less mature crop haven’t had time to develop yet. So that’s to be determined on those ears, but generally, the kernel depth was fine.”
Longtime Tour Agronomist Mark Bernard says one thing he’s taking note of is the higher soybean pod counts.
“I think part of that is due to the fact that people have reduced their soybean planting populations, and that’s definitely noticeable. We don’t see near the plant counts that we used to see.”
The total production projected by Pro Farmer is 14.9 billion bushels of corn and 54.9 billion bushels of soybeans. Regarding the impact on crop prices, Mike Zuzolo of Global Commodity Analytics says the projections track with what he saw a week prior on his own tour of corn.
“With the Pro Farmer numbers out and the weather being uncertain, I would say the first couple-three days of the week are going to dictate next week whether the beans can go up by themselves without the help of corn and wheat like they did on Friday. If it’s raining, I can’t see that the beans would be able to do much without the corn and wheat coming in and supporting them.”
On beans, he says he’s estimating a couple of bushels less per acre than Pro Farmer and believes some of the market impact may be overshadowed by what’s happening with the Canadian Railway labor situation.
“I’m going to play this like the pandemic for my clients, a supply chain disruption. Yes, you’ll have winners and losers. But overall, like in the pandemic and the supply chain disruptions, we had those problems result typically in lower demand due to higher prices due to shipping problems and delays on goods. I’m concerned the funds and the investment flows will treat us like that in agriculture.”
He adds the recent uptick in demand has been a nice market feature.