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Record crops and yields forecast for Nebraska

Nebraska’s 2015 corn and soybean crops are forecast to be record-setters.

The latest crop production report from USDA estimates the state’s corn crop at 1.66 billion bushels and the statewide average corn yield at 184 bushels per acre, both record highs.

The soybean crop is forecast at a record high 291 million bushels with a record yield of 56 bushels per acre.

Lance Peters, who farms near Aurora in central Nebraska, says he’s been happy with his irrigated yields so far.

“My beans ran right at 76 and the last corn we harvested was 237. So I’m pretty happy with those numbers,” Peters says. “I think there’s some really good corn out there yet, and we might have some surprises with the weather we had this spring.”

Peters says the corn he was combining on Friday was running around 20 percent moisture.

USDA is also forecasting a new record yield for grain sorghum in Nebraska at 100 bushels per acre. Total sorghum production in the state is estimated at 24 million bushels, up 83 percent from a year ago.

AUDIO: Lance Peters