Corn ear consistency was a common participant reaction during the 2017 White County Crop Tour. However, these ears of corn, all taken from fields in Burnt Prairie Township, won’t bust any grain bins this fall.
Despite a wet spring and extremely hot mid-summer temperatures, corn fields in White County appear to have weathered the challenges to put out a fairly consistent, though non bin-busting crop, according to the participants of this year’s White County Crop Tour. The crop tour, in its 21st year, was held on August 30.
Jeff Young and Matt McCurdy measure ear length during the 2017 White County Crop Tour. Young and McCurdy were joined by Matt Rhinehart (taking the picture) in Gray Township.
“The stand counts and ears were consistent for what we went through in the spring,” commented Brent York, who toured Burnt Prairie Township. Kevin McArthy, who toured fields in Indian Creek Township, added, “I didn’t think it would be as consistent as it was.”
Keith Hoskins noted that there were some “population variances”, but “ear size was consistent.” Hoskins also toured Indian Creek Township. Charlie Pfister, who toured Carmi Township, said that despite some insect and disease pressure, the “fields had pretty solid ears.”
Barry and Kyle Rynkiewich, along with Doug Anderson (taking the picture), toured Heralds Prairie Township during the 2017 White County Crop Tour.
Several tour participants noted that the early planted corn had some disease pressure on the ends of the ears. Southern rust was evident in many of the fields throughout the tour. In 2016, rust had a major impact on corn yield potential late in the season.
The average estimated 2017corn yield for White County is159.6 bushels per acre compared to an actual USDA corn yield of 134.4 bushels in 2016. The highest corn crop in the last 10 years was in 2014, when the USDA corn yield hit 195.3 bushels per acre. The lowest USDA corn yield in the last 10 years occurred in 2012 with a yield of only 67.6bushels.
GrayTownship saw the highest yield estimate at 176.3bushels; despite having acres that were impacted by flooding early in the season. The lowest yielding township was Indian Creek Township in the southwest area of the county which came in at 137.7 bushels per acre.
White County Crop Tour, Page 2
2017 estimates for each township results were (bu/ac):
- Burnt Prairie Township 3
- Carmi Township 7
- Emma Township 2
- Enfield Township 9
- Gray Township 3
- Hawthorne Township 6
- Heralds Prairie Township 3
- Indian Creek Township 7
- Mill Shoals Township 2
- Phillips Township 9
31 individuals participated in the tour, spanning out in teams across the county to take yield measurements. Teams measured the number of stalks in 60 feet, the number of ears in 60 feet, average length of an ear, and the average number of rows in an ear. Data was taken from 9-10 fields in each township, randomly chosen around 3 miles apart from one another.
Average ear length for 2017 was 7.0 inches, the same as it was in 2016; average kernel rows was 16.0, up from 15.7 in 2016; average ear population was 27,600 per acre, up from 27,385 per acre in 2016; and the average ear-to-stalk ratio was 98%, upslightly from 97% in 2016.
For the complete report of the 2017 White County Crop Tour, go the White County Farm Bureau website at www.whitecfb.com/croptour.
This year’s White County Crop Tour was sponsored by the White County Farm Bureau, Consolidated Grain & Barge, and Wabash Valley Service Company.
