Today was the third and final day for this early 2020 crop tour, and this write-up will be brief as I traveled out of the Grain Belt from Indianapolis through Dayton, OH.
I started the day early at 6 am and was treated to some great views as the sun rose over a heavy, humid fog noticeable in some fields. The temperature was already 71 degrees, and I quickly saw evidence of the thundery downpours experienced the night before. About a third of the fields in eastern Indiana had noticeable ponding in the low areas. In fact, it looks like those low areas have been wet all spring, with some corn and soybeans stunted or not emerged at all. Indiana certainly looked like the “moistest” state so far in the tour. All in all, the crops looked decent with corn knee-height to waist-height and soybeans standing 3 to 4 inches tall. The problem areas were those wetter fields, though that issue seemed isolated.
Wheat field in fog.
Indiana corn.
Leaving Indiana and entering western Ohio, the crops looked to be about one week behind Indiana overall. Most corn was at shin-to knee-height, and soybeans were in the early growing stages. More ponding was visible from the road, and the state was also very lush and green. While in Ohio, I could tell soybeans were the preferred crop over corn. Looking up the fresh acreage numbers for this write-up confirmed the observation, as Ohio is slated to plant 4.8 million acres of soybeans and 3.7 million acres of corn. Ohio’s observation was relatively brief because once I drove past Dayton, the number of fields visible from the highway dropped off considerably. Driving through Columbus and towards Cleveland, there were pockets of corn and soybeans, but nothing too noteworthy. Ohio overall seemed wet but showing moderate progress behind the other Grain Belt states.
That does it for the write-ups! I hope you all enjoyed the posts and pictures from our 2020 crop tour. Stay tuned for a podcast next week, where I will share some additional insights and observations.
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