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A crop specialist is concerned about varying yields

A crop specialist has concerns about this year’s yields, especially in certain areas. 

Daniel Olson with Forage Innovations works with farmers who grow the feed for dairy operations throughout the Midwest, and he tells Brownfield the better quality crops appear to be in the east. “Indiana has some very nice crops. Ohio, it’s a little hit-and-miss but they’re okay. Illinois has some very good crops, but when we go farther south and into Iowa, it seems the heat at pollination really impacted ear development.”

And Olson says both soybeans and corn might be disappointing in Minnesota, South Dakota, and Wisconsin. “They look pretty good from the road, but I think there’s going to be a lot of disappointed farmers when we actually get into the yield portion of that, and even on the corn, there is some corn that did not reach black layer and frosted across the upper Midwest here in this last week.”

Olson says he’s skeptical of USDA yield projections but says time will tell.

Olson spoke to Brownfield at the 2022 World Dairy Expo in Madison, Wisconsin.