#croptour

2025 IAG Crop Tour!!

Day four of the 2023 IAG Crop Tour (final day)

Data from today. 270 miles driven. Average moving speed of 47.4 mph. Elevation min was 658ft, the max was 1120ft and we ascended and descended about 4k ft during the route. Our final tally is 24 crop stops and sampled nearly 50 fields of corn and soybeans.

A shorter day as we all got ready to split up and go home. We began in Kokomo, IN and headed east-northeast towards Ohio, and finally finished in south-central Michigan.

As we circled south and east of Fort Wayne, IN we started with exceptional yields that declined as we moved towards Ohio. We expect some potential was lost in northwestern Ohio generally due to early stress issues whether it be planting problems, compaction, or the dry June. Despite 3 corn samples from Van Wert, OH to Hudson, MI, our spot yield checks were consistent (from 190-200bpa). Soybeans were generally healthy but not as far along as what we had seen west of Indianapolis. As we turned North, we noticed pod fill was further behind. For the first time this tour, we found beans that need some finishing rains.

Day three of the 2023 IAG Crop Tour

First some data from today. 432 miles driven. Average moving speed of 56.4 mph. Elevation min was 466ft, the max was 925ft and we ascended and descended about 7k ft during the route. We now have totaled 19 crop stops and sampled nearly 40 fields of corn and soybeans.

We started today in southeastern Iowa and made our way back across the Mississippi River into central Illinois and then to central and northern Indiana. Our tour ended in Kokomo, IN which has significance only as to sharing the name of my wife’s favorite The Beach Boys song (and in my top 3 to be fair) but basically north of Indianapolis.

To begin, southeastern Iowa was basically the best yields we had seen across the entire state and the corn seemed to only improve as we crossed the River back into Illinois. Our two stops in Indiana so far were impressive although we had to opt out of an initial field because of replant which had no orderly rows for us to figure out how to sample. The field across the street sufficed. We are starting to see more experimentation with 20” rows of corn having run into two in our random sampling just today. Today’s takeaway for corn along our route is a lot simpler than yesterday. Without crunching the data we have collected, our impression is Illinois is an above average crop. We would also venture to say that it is possible that if it were not for likely stress the corn went through in June and early July, Illinois and the part of Indiana we have seen so far would be nothing short of earth shattering.

For soybeans, it was not uncommon to see fields beginning to turn. Pod fill is easily past halfway and often closer to ¾ or full. Topsoil moisture in the first few inches of soil remains dry but just 12” down, we seem to be finding plenty of water to support a decent finish. We did notice that the top of many of our samples was all stem, perhaps leaving some potential growing in late August on the table. At the end of the day, aside from that area in east-central Iowa, there were just not many problems in all the bean fields we have sampled. It is well known (and we have mentioned it here) that bean yields are basically a semi-educated guess, but basically the soybeans continue to fair better than expected.

Day two of the 2023 IAG Crop Tour

First some data from today. 460 miles driven. Average moving speed of 58.9 mph. Elevation min was 617ft, the max was 1555ft and we ascended and descended about 8k ft during the route.

This morning we started out in south-central Minnesota and headed West. Our two stops in MN were encouraging with our best yield on the tour recorded around Brewster, just outside of Worthington, MN. After turning back South and entering Iowa, we spent the day working across the Hawkeye (and Cyclone) State from the northwest to the southeast. Ending in the hometown of one of my all time favorite TV characters in Ottumwa, IA.

First, let me say that the first takeaway from today is the rest of the state of Iowa does NOT look like east-central Iowa. In fact, we continue to be impressed as to how well the corn we grow here in the US can handle stress, albeit from heat, insects, or dryness.

Second, all the corn fields we sampled had indications of losing potential due to stress at some point in the season. Let me reiterate: Our job as ‘crop detectives’ is to try and piece together a story for each field based on what we find. In every case across Iowa, we found evidence of stress at some point over the summer. This includes but was not limited to; short, fully filled ears in high population fields, hot temps during pollination, aborted pods and in some cases aborted beans within pods.

Third, the soybean fields we saw seem to be in good health and better than expected given the weather the second half of August and pod fill was nearly complete. Often times on this tour we have said ‘needs one more good rain in early September’ but that is not the feeling this year. We saw a good amount of fields beginning to turn (some right across from fully green fields) and some of that may be from heat stress but we expect that it generally has more to do with planting date and variety planted.

All told, we will have to get home and crunch some data before putting a yield guess on the state of Iowa but we can say that the corn crop is not a disaster but below average. Meanwhile the soybean crop looks to have profited from the late July and early August weather more than the latter half of August weather could hurt it but keep in mind that soybean yields are notoriously difficult to read. It does look like the areas we crossed today will be able to finish filling despite the lack of recent shower activity.

Day one of the 2023 IAG Crop Tour

First some data from today. 494 miles driven. Average moving speed of 59.5 mph. Elevation min was 600ft, the max was 1306ft and we ascended and descended about 11k ft during the route.

Today was a bit of a roller coaster of day, crop-wise. We started out in Chicago and did our annual stop in Dekalb, IL where we do our yield check training. Between Dekalb and Stockton in northern Illinois, these were our most impressive stops of the day with lush, green beans and corn abundant. After crossing the Mississippi River, we started to see some stressed crops. After visiting Dyersville, IA (and yes, we tried to do a yield check at the back of the ‘Field of Dreams’!) we saw our first obvious moisture stress. As we headed west to Waterloo, the corn and beans got worse. Our stop just north of Waterloo, IA would probably be the biggest disappointment to the farmer as the corn and beans we basically dead. There was still some crop to be harvested but a big swath of East-Central Iowa will be likely be taking insurance payments based on achieving production. It is still impressive how the modern seed can handle moisture stress and still produce something but at best I estimate the region is taking a 25% haircut on production.

As we headed north into north-central Iowa, we such much improved corn and beans both in color and development. Our next stop around Mason City, IA the corn was fully matured with a black layer. Yes, there was some indication of moisture stress and some potential will be missed because of it but I don’t think farmers in the region will be disappointed after the summer they have endured.

Into southern Minnesota and the crops improved again although the field we sampled had some issues; possibly due to farm equipment or possibly early stress that caused too much variation in stalk spacing.

As for some of the early questions, it is too early for us to say with any resolution if small ears from the dry June is a widespread problem. Nor can we say that the state of Iowa has a big problem. We will hold off that determination for this time tomorrow when we have covered a much bigger portion of the state. I will say that what we saw in east-central Iowa is nothing near trendline and will likely be a severe drag on the state yield.