2023 IAG Crop Tour

That’s it for tonight’s wrap up. Tomorrow we will start crunching the numbers and will have our final report out which a lot more details of the trip. This is the 2023 IAG Crop Tour, signing off.

The bean field in Hudson, MI was not exactly representative of the area as a whole. It was the best bean field we've seen and is more a look at what the potential of a field can be when there is irrigation available. The plants were huge, the bottoms of the stalks were about as big as a thumb, average 90 pods/plant and 3 pods/node. We've been joking the last few days that all the bean fields are estimated at 60 bpa, but with a field this good looking, we're estimating 80+ bpa. #soy yields #croptour

The final stop of the 2023 IAG crop tour led us to one of Ben's family friend's farms in Hudson, MI. I think all of us were happy to wade through the last corn field of the trip and hang out for a few before we all split up to go our separate ways. The corn stalks were the tallest of all the fields we'd been in, and the ears were about head height. The corn was still maturing, entering dent, population about 32k ears/acre - we know they dropped 34k. Ear sizes were fairly consistent and on average 16 rows and 36 long. We estimate the yield to be 200 bpa. #corn yields #croptour

The bean field in Sherwood, OH looked good, but again the plants were inconsistently spaced. The pods are less than half full, lots of 1 and 2 bean pods, less than 2 pods per node. Similar to Van Wert, we estimate the yield to be 45 bpa. #soy yields #croptour

The corn in Sherwood, OH still had a ways to go. The husks were still green, the ears were in early dent, the population was consistent at 32k ears/acre, the ear sizes were fairly consistent at 14-16 rows and 33-40 long. Indication in the field is that this crop had a fairly decent summer. If the ear size is normal, then we can assume that this field produced well. However, we do suspect the ears are a bit on the small side, which could be due to early stress, whether it be from planting, weather or compaction. We estimate the yield to be 190 bpa. #corn yields #croptour

The bean field in Van Wert, OH was a good clean field. The spacing of the plants was uneven, the plants had an excellent color, plants were extremely healthy. The pods were flat to 1/4 full, a lot of 2 bean pods. These beans could use a few more good rains. We estimate the yield to be 45 bpa. #soy yields #croptour

Our stop in Van Wert, OH had corn that was less mature than all of the fields we've seen. The population was consistent at 31k ears/acre. Plant health was great, stalks were evenly spaced, ears were just starting to dent. Ear size was fairly consistent - on average 16 rows and 36 long. The moisture reading was 6, which as surprising since this area has recently had a good rain, but we do know that the soil in this area doesn't hold moisture as well as IA & IL. We think increasing the population could have increased the yield in this field. We estimate the yield to be 200 bpa. #corn yields #croptour

The bean field in Linn Grove, IN had a high population at around 140k, and the spacing of the plants was very inconsistent. The plant health was good with no weeds or insect pressure. As we looked down the rows, we saw some plants that seemed to have almost no pods on them. We tried to sample a couple plants that were evenly spaced. We found some pods that were basically flat and others that were almost full. We also noticed that our sample plants had quite a few leaves. If these plants hustle to finish, we estimate they'll be lucky to get 50 bpa. #soy yields #croptour

We stopped in Linn Grove, IN, and the corn field we chose was not great, but we think it was probably a good representative of the rest of the area. We're thinking it was probably too wet when it was planted, and caused the ground to be compacted and led to an emergence issue. The ground looked dry and was full of cracks despite the moisture reading of 8.5. We found a consistently low population at 24k ears/acre due to quite a few skipped stalks and other stalks that were either missing ears or had ears that were too small to be viable. Of the 9 ears sampled, 8 of them had 16 rows and they ranged from 20 to 41 long. We estimate the yield to be 140 bpa. #corn yields #croptour