Corn harvest is about 50% done and soybeans are at 67% according to the October 13 USDA Crop Progress Report. Let’s talk about the phantom yield loss phenomenon, which is the loss of potential corn yields when some parts of a field are harvested later than others. Our Conservation Ag Operator Fellow Ray McCormick found a way to avoid phantom yield loss on his farm in southern Indiana.

“I believe phantom yield loss comes from deteriorating kernels on the ear. So, we picked a lot of really wet corn last year and it was a struggle because we have to hold all our corn on a buyer’s call. So, we’re just today — September 4 — hauling off our last load of last year’s corn. We have to hold it in the bin a long time. When you’re picking very wet corn, putting it in the bin, running it through the dryer, you’re getting more cracking up with the combine, a lot more cracking up going through the dryer, trying to reduce that much moisture out of it. We’ve never had yields like we had last year. Probably won’t this year. But last year we broke all the records on our farm, field after field after field, and we were picking it wet. We’ve got an old dryer, that’s not easy to do. But farmers might want to look into not letting it dry too much in the field and picking some wetter corn and seeing if they can’t boost yields by picking the corn wet vs. 17 or 18.”

Watch the full version of this episode of Conservation Ag Update.