COLUMBUS, Ohio — Mother Nature provided five "suitable" days for fieldwork for the week ending Sept. 5, according to the United States Department of Agriculture National Agricultural Statistics Service Great Lakes Region.


What You Need To Know

  • In this week's edition of Ag Report, anchor and reporter Chuck Ringwalt and agriculture expert Andy Vance discuss the latest Ohio Crop Weather Report

  • USDA NASS State Statistician Cheryl Turner said this week was pleasant for farmers in the fields

  • Each week, Ringwalt and Vance discuss a topic of importance within agriculture

Our Chuck Ringwalt and Spectrum News 1 agriculture expert, Andy Vance, discussed the findings during the Ag Report Friday.

After hearing positive antidotes from one farmer in central Ohio, Ringwalt asked Vance whether most of the state's farmers were enjoying a better season than in years past.

"When you look at the data, it certainly sounds like it," Vance said.

According to the report, 72% of Ohio topsoil rated adequate to surplus — an increase of eight points from the week before.

"That's pretty great," Vance said. "And I would say better than an average year. I called my little brother in my home farm in southern Ohio to take his temperature. He said much the same thing. It may not be the best corn crop he ever produced, but it's one of the best and as good or better than he's had in quite a few years, so I think that lines up pretty well with what the data is showing us across the state."

Ringwalt then asked how this year compares to 2020.

"The big difference between this year and last year isn't so much in the quality, although this is definitely a higher quality [corn] crop, but it's how far this crop is moving toward harvest. It's really progressing toward maturity much faster than last year," Vance said. "This is actually pretty close to the five-year average, so it's not that this crop is historically faster maturing, but compared to last year, much, much farther ahead."

Vance said the story is a little less appealing for soybeans.

"Soybeans are a few percentage points may be behind schedule in terms of maturity, but not anything I'm super concerned about," he said.

Vance also said farmers will have a crop to sell come harvest and should be able to make a profit.

You can read the USDA's complete Ohio Crop Weather report here.