Four more U.S. Crop Watch corn and soybean fields were harvested last week and only one was slightly disappointing versus expectations, but the others were a little better, including one that far exceeded earlier predictions.

Wet weather in the last several days continued to hamper some U.S. corn and soybean harvest activity, but almost all the Crop Watch producers say their progress is still equal to or faster than in most recent years.

At least two more Crop Watch fields should be harvested in the next few days and the weather should be mostly favorable, particularly early this week with dry, warm days expected.

The Minnesota corn and Kansas soybeans were finished on Tuesday and the Indiana corn and Ohio soybeans were completed on Thursday, meaning just seven fields awaited harvest as of Monday morning. The only soybean field that remains is in western Illinois.

The 11 producers have been rating yield expectations each week on a scale of 1 to 5, where 3 is near average and 5 is record or near record. Final corn yield in Minnesota landed at 3.25 versus the 3.75 predicted just prior to harvest. The dry summer stretches seemingly hurt more than expected.

The soybeans in Kansas ended at 3.25 and Indiana corn at 4.5, a respective quarter- and half-point above predictions, but the Ohio soybeans had the most surprising result. Yield there ended at 5 instead of 3.25 despite excessive moisture and flooding earlier in the season.

The Ohio producer had added drainage to that field over the last couple of years, and that helped the soybeans handle heavy rainfall much better than he expected in spite of their visually rough look in the following weeks.

The 11-field, unweighted average corn yield fell to 3.77 from 3.82 last week on the reduction in Minnesota. Soybean yield jumped to 3.93 from 3.75 after the boosts in Ohio and Kansas.

Of the 15 fields harvested thus far, only three had yields fall below expectation: corn in western Illinois and Minnesota and soybeans in Indiana. Nine fields notched yields higher than what was predicted in the few weeks leading up to harvest, including seven soybean fields.

Almost all the producers are reporting that yields in their areas are coming in as expected or bigger. North Dakota is an exception, as yield reports continue to be mixed between better than expected and worse than expected.

The western Illinois producer says the disease issues are still curbing corn yields and that soybeans may have dealt with too much water all at once at a couple points in the season. Beans may not be as strong there relative to other locations.

The following are the states and counties of the 2021 Crop Watch corn and soybean fields: Griggs, North Dakota; Kingsbury, South Dakota; Freeborn, Minnesota; Burt, Nebraska; Rice, Kansas; Audubon, Iowa; Cedar, Iowa; Warren, Illinois; Crawford, Illinois; Tippecanoe, Indiana; Fairfield, Ohio.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Karen Braun; Editing by Matthew Lewis)