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Predicting yields continues to be guessing game

Aaron Viner
Feb 25, 2019
Feb 25, 2019 Updated Feb 27, 2019

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In agriculture, all it takes is missing a rain shower — or receiving one too many — to change the outlook for the entire season.

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This chart indicates lower variability in soybean yield predictions made at the end of the growing season. Iowa State University Extension specialist Mark Licht said if a yield forecast can have 5 percent accuracy, “that is probably as good as we can expect.”
Chart courtesy University of Illinois Farmdoc Daily

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