Purdue Specialists React to USDA’s Indiana Yield Projections

Everyone appeared shocked following Tuesday’s USDA reports. A 2-million-acre swing from soybeans to corn was the primary catalyst for the surprise, but also surprising were some of the yield numbers. In Indiana, USDA is projecting a record statewide average for both corn and soybeans with corn pegged at 205 bushels per acre.

“I honestly have no idea where that number came from,” says Purdue Extension’s Dan ‘Corn’ Quinn on the latest Purdue Crop Chat podcast from Hoosier Ag Today.

He says there must be some Garden of Eden out there with 400-bushel corn that he hasn’t seen yet.

“There’s some good corn out there. You look at the west central part of the state it’s where it’s pretty strong. But just in comparison of the last few years, this crop is just not on par with the last few years.”

‘Soybean Shaun’ Casteel was equally shocked to see soybeans projected at 62 bushels per acre. To get there, here’s what needs to happen.

“You order up that timely rain, nice sunshine. We’re not going to have the clouds, so we maximize photosynthetic capacity. You have the water then to work through all of that in terms of transpiration, all those plant physiological things, and have good seed fill, right? We’re right at R5 with a lot of the crops. So, it’s beginning seed fill, and this is that linear phase. And so, we can put on the most bushels during this period… We can put upwards of four bushels per acre per day. If we’ve got all that clicking, we can really add a lot to it.”

Hear more from Quinn, Casteel, and Michael Langemeier, director of the Purdue Center for Commercial Agriculture, who joins us to discuss the economic impact of the August USDA reports, in the latest Purdue Crop Chat. Watch the podcast below!