Crop a bit behind, but in good shape

Nebraska’s corn crop remains in overall good condition, with 75 percent of the crop rated good to excellent, which equals the crop rating of a year ago.

Overall crop progress, however, is about five days behind average. Silking, at 92 percent, is only 3 points behind the five year average, but corn in the dough stage is at 20 percent, behind the average of 33 percent.

Nebraska’s crop faced several hot and mostly dry conditions over the past week, with many locations reporting temperatures in the triple digits. For details on Nebraska’s crop conditions, including photos, be sure to visit the Nebraska Corn Board’s Crop Progress Update page.

ProFarmer editors -- on agweb.com -- published today crop production estimates from Informa Economics and FC Stone. Informa is said to have pegged the U.S. average corn yield at 155.4 bu. per acre, with a total crop of 12.3 billion bushels. FC Stone had a yield estimate of 154.5 and a total corn crop of 12.2 billion bushels.

The University of Illinois' Darrel Good said if current crop condition ratings hold, corn yields would be projected to be 155.7 bushels per acre, which is well above the long-term trend yield of 150.7 bushels. Good noted, though, the the lateness of this year's crop makes it difficult to judge yield potential. (USDA's July WASDE report had a yield of 148.4 bushels plugged in, which gave a total crop of 11.7 billion bushels.)

Allandale said the ranges of guesstimates for corn yields are from a low of 151 bushels per acre to as high as 160 bushels.

USDA's first official crop production estimate comes out next Tuesday.