From Ohio Ag Net/Ohio’s Country Journal
Crop conditions varied widely across the state, due to delays in planting, replanting, and emergence issues throughout the 2017 season, according to Cheryl Turner, Ohio State Statistician for the USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service. Heavy rains along with cold temperatures at the beginning of the season hindered the drying of fields and caused the need for significant replanting. Dryer conditions in June brought opportunities to dry out fields to resume planting and other field activities. The dry weather continued allowing growers to catch up on replanting, apply fertilizer and cut hay. Excessive moisture throughout July created concerns in crop progress. August brought cooler drier conditions which helped stabilize crops.
Ohio’s 2017 average corn yield was 177 bushels per acre, a new State record, up 18 bushels from last year. Producers harvested 3.13 million acres, compared to 3.30 million acres in 2016. Total State production of corn for grain was 554 million bushels, up 6 percent from the 2016 production of 525 million bushels. Acreage harvested for silage was 220,000 acres, an increase of 10,000 acres from 2016. The average silage yield increased by 4.5 tons from 2016 to 20 tons per acre. The Ohio corn harvest progressed slightly behind 2016 throughout the fall and was near completion by the end of November.
Ohio’s average soybean yield for 2017 was estimated at 49.5 bushels per acre. The estimate is down 5 bushels per acre from the 2016 yield. Ohio producers planted 5.10 million acres and harvested 5.09 million acres. Planted and harvested acreage both increased by 250,000 acres from 2016. Soybean production is down 5 percent from 2016 to 252 million bushels.
Alfalfa yields for Ohio averaged 3.20 tons per acre while all other hay averaged 2.10 tons per acre same as last year. Total hay production was 2.57 million tons.
U.S. Corn for grain production is estimated at 14.6 billion bushels, down 4 percent from the 2016 estimate. The average yield in the United States is estimated at a record 176.6 bushels per acre, 2.0 bushels above the 2016 average yield of 174.6 bushels per acre. Area harvested for grain was estimated at 82.7 million acres, down 5 percent from the 2016 estimate.
U.S. Soybean production in 2017 totaled a record 4.39 billion bushels, up 2 percent from 2016. The average yield per acre was estimated at 49.1 bushels, 2.9 bushels below the record yield in 2016. Harvested area was up 8 percent from 2016 to a record high 89.5 million acres.