Credit: REUTERS/KAREN BRAUNAdds quote, details
GRAND ISLAND, Neb., Aug 22 (Reuters) - South Dakota corn yield prospects and soybean pod counts are well below last year and the three-year average, scouts on an annual tour of top U.S. producing states found on Monday.
The tour is being closely watched by farmers and commodity traders, as extreme heat and widespread drought in parts of the U.S. Midwest has hampered fields. A string of troubled crop harvests worldwide is pointing to multiple years of tight supplies and high food costs.
South Dakota corn yields were projected at 118.45 bushels per acre (bpa), the Pro Farmer Midwest Crop Tour said on Monday evening, the worst on the tour since 2012 and well below the 2021 crop tour average of 151.45 bpa and the three-year crop tour average of 161.59 bpa.
"Even if it would rain now, it would do no good [for the corn] in South Dakota," said Emily Carolan, territory manager with Pioneer Seeds and a tour participant. "The stress on this crop has been all season."
The western leg of the tour will calculate yields in Nebraska on Tuesday, and continued poor yields in larger producing areas will raise concerns the U.S. corn crop may be worse than forecast by the U.S. Agriculture Department.
The four-day crop tour, which does not project soybean yields, estimated the amount of soybean pods in a 3-by-3-foot square in South Dakota at an average of 871.40 pods, down from last year's average of 996.86 pods and the three-year average of 1,026.86 pods.
The eastern leg of the tour, however, on Monday forecast better corn yields and soybean pod counts than the tour's three-year average.
(Reporting by Karen Braun and P.J. Huffstutter; Editing by Caroline Stauffer)
((caroline.stauffer@thomsonreuters.com; +1-757-390-0985; Reuters Messaging: caroline.stauffer.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))
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