“We could probably use the term variable to describe corn yields, but it might be more appropriate to say that they are better than expected,” says West Central Indiana Pioneer agronomist Ben Jacob in our first Pioneer agronomy update of the harvest season.
He tells Hoosier Ag Today that corn yields have been, in many cases, pretty close to the field’s best average, something many growers weren’t expecting.
“If we think back to the drought stress that we had in June and at the beginning of July, and then when the rain finally did come that it brought overcast days with it for really about three weeks straight. It’s hard to track on the weather line but it has a noticeable impact on the crop coming through pollination. We’ve seen a little bit of tip back and just overall some questions about how good of a yield we were going to have.”
Jacob says early soybean yields have been outstanding for the most part.
“Pretty light disease year overall. We had SDS in some pockets if the genetics weren’t covering that up.”
Jacob is excited about the early results from Pioneer hybrids and varieties.
“We turned over a lot of our corn lineup and it’s really exciting to see how some of the new genetics are performing, but perhaps more than anything, getting back in the A-Series and selling the core of our own soybean genetics again for the first time in a couple years and seeing just the performance boost we’re getting out of that is really exciting to see.”
Hear the full HAT interview with Pioneer agronomist Ben Jacob below. He also discusses the potential impacts of some light frost that hit West Central Indiana last week.