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North central Ohio farmer reporting stronger than expected yields to close out harvest 2025

A north central Ohio farmer says he expects to wrap up the 2025 harvest season this week. 

Owen Niese raises corn, soybeans, and wheat in Crawford County.

“While August was dry, we were in a spot where we had adequate soil moisture,” he says. “It seemed like the earlier the beans were planted, the better yielding they were. Corn yields were 20 bushels better than what we were expecting.”

He tells Brownfield he’s starting to make plans for the 2026 crop year.

“It’s still hard to make corn break even,” he says. “Soybeans have really take off with the Chinese reentering the market. There are some decisions being made there on how many fields we want to go back to beans on.”

According to the latest crop progress and condition report from the USDA, Ohio corn is 93 percent harvested, and soybeans are 96 percent harvested. Winter wheat is 98 percent planted, 90 percent emerged, and rated 63 percent good to excellent.

AUDIO: Owen Niese