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Yield scores inch upward as harvest nears halfway -Braun

Despite some rain interruptions last week, the overall harvest pace for the U.S. Crop Watch corn and soybeans is near to or quicker than normal. Results are mostly positive with 10 of the 22 fields finished as of early Monday.

Each week the 11 Crop Watch producers have been rating corn and soybean yield potential on a 1-to-5 scale with a 3 reflecting yield close to farm average, 4 solidly above, and 5 well above average or record yields. The score is then finalized upon harvest.

The 11-field, unweighted average soybean trarose to 3.75 from 3.66 based on increases in the Dakotas. The North Dakota result was better than projected and the South Dakota producer added a quarter-point to his outlook, now at 3.25.

Three more fields were harvested during the last week, including the soybeans in Minnesota, North Dakota and southeastern Illinois. The Minnesota yield ended at an expected 3 on Tuesday, nicked by white mold and a dry summer stretch.

The Minnesota producer’s other soybean fields were not hit as badly by the mold and will yield slightly better than the Crop Watch one.

The soybeans in North Dakota were harvested on Wednesday with a yield of 2.5, up from the predicted 1.75. Sporadic August rains during the historic drought helped some fields more than expected, and the Crop Watch field was prevented from planting in 2020, meaning it retained more moisture and nutrients than others.

Opposite to Minnesota, the North Dakota grower said overall soybean results on his farm were not as strong as the Crop Watch field.

The week’s final harvest was Friday with the southeastern Illinois soybeans, which scored the expected 5. Similar to the western Iowa soybeans, the southeastern Illinois producer would rate the score off the scale at “feels like 6” because of the record result.

The southeastern Illinois location had the most rainfall of the 11 during the prime weeks of the growing season. There were earlier concerns over the presence of two-seed pods when three are more typical, but that did not prevent strong yields.

On the corn side, only the Kansas and two Illinois fields are harvested so far. The Minnesota grower increased corn yield to 3.75 from 3 based on results in the area, though all other scores are unchanged. That bumped the 11-field average corn yield to 3.77 from 3.7 last week.

Many of the Crop Watch fields could be harvested within the next week, and the weather looks mostly favorable. Temperatures will continue to be warmer than average across the Corn Belt, and the western areas should be mostly dry this week.

Intermittent wet weather could pause harvest activity at times in the east and possibly in the Dakotas over the weekend.

The producers in North Dakota and Kansas were asked for their thoughts on 2022 plantings since acreage swings a lot more in those states versus others. Both said that rising input costs would likely favor soybean planting now because corn is becoming increasingly expensive to grow.

The following are the states and counties of the 2021 Crop Watch corn and soybean fields: Griggs, North Dakota; Kingsbury, South Dakota; Freeborn, Minnesota; Burt, Nebraska; Rice, Kansas; Audubon, Iowa; Cedar, Iowa; Warren, Illinois; Crawford, Illinois; Tippecanoe, Indiana; Fairfield, Ohio.
Source: Reuters (Editing by Barbara Lewis)

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