Farm Progress

Smartphone says ‘Great yield!’

Crop Tech Update: Smartphone apps can help you assess pre-harvest yield potential.

John Vogel, Editor, American Agriculturist

December 5, 2017

1 Min Read
DREAM EAR: If only all ears were as handsome.

This fine ear couldn’t be left in the field after being pulled off its stalk during a fall field day. So it was put through a smartphone’s corn yield calculator app and brought back to the office as a trophy.

Numerous yield estimator apps can be downloaded to your smart phone or mobile tablet to simplify yield calculations — even begin early forward-price contracting.

Thoroughly test any app you choose to be sure its math and your math match up, cautions Purdue University agronomist Bob Nielson. Some offer multiple kernel "fudge factors," but don’t specify kernel numbers per 56-pound bushel. Some allow sampling three ears at a time. Most don’t allow you to save results. So take your notepad and pen along with your smartphone.

Let’s see now ... with 18 kernel rows, 38 kernels per row and a 29,000-ear population, that’s 247 bushels an acre. I’m sure you’d be happy with a few fields of it.

About the Author(s)

John Vogel

Editor, American Agriculturist

For more than 38 years, John Vogel has been a Farm Progress editor writing for farmers from the Dakota prairies to the Eastern shores. Since 1985, he's been the editor of American Agriculturist – successor of three other Northeast magazines.

Raised on a grain and beef farm, he double-majored in Animal Science and Ag Journalism at Iowa State. His passion for helping farmers and farm management skills led to his family farm's first 209-bushel corn yield average in 1989.

John's personal and professional missions are an integral part of American Agriculturist's mission: To anticipate and explore tomorrow's farming needs and encourage positive change to keep family, profit and pride in farming.

John co-founded Pennsylvania Farm Link, a non-profit dedicated to helping young farmers start farming. It was responsible for creating three innovative state-supported low-interest loan programs and two "Farms for the Future" conferences.

His publications have received countless awards, including the 2000 Folio "Gold Award" for editorial excellence, the 2001 and 2008 National Association of Ag Journalists' Mackiewicz Award, several American Agricultural Editors' "Oscars" plus many ag media awards from the New York State Agricultural Society.

Vogel is a three-time winner of the Northeast Farm Communicators' Farm Communicator of the Year award. He's a National 4-H Foundation Distinguished Alumni and an honorary member of Alpha Zeta, and board member of Christian Farmers Outreach.

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