Pro Farmer Crop Tour

Presented by: Seed Consultants, Simply the Best Value in the Seed Industry

 See Day 3 Results

Not to say that the previous three days uneventful, but from what I am told what I will see today will be things that I have never seen before. Prevented plant acres will begin to show up as I head north from Iowa City and make my way to Rochester, Minnesota. And like yesterday, the fields I will see will not be what they may be in an average year because the planting date for so late due to heavy rains during prime planting windows. There are some farmers in Iowa and Minnesota that has taken the Prevented Plant route for the first time in their careers and some didn’t even know it was part of their contract until being told about the option. Truly unbelievable and I feel for these proud farmers.

Today is a short route for most of the scouts as the road from Iowa City to Rochester isn’t a long one.… Continue reading

Presented by: Seed Consultants,Simply the Best Value in the Seed Industry

See Results from Day 2

The story so far from this year’s Pro Farmer Crop Tour is the urgency for moisture pretty soon to save what could be a big corn crop. Tip Back is already showing itself in many parts of Indiana and Illinois and if the already gaping cracks in the ground get much bigger, issues of stalk quality will also come into play and the heavy numbers being seen this week will deteriorate in quick fashion.

Today my chauffeur is Brian Grete, a market analyst with Pro Farmer. There are many reasons that riding with Brian is one of the highlights of my week. For one, the Iowa boy likes country music. I am pretty sure if there weren’t two other people in the truck we would have the windows rolled down and howl…I mean sing at the top of our lungs.… Continue reading

Presented by: Seed Consultants, Simply the Best Value in the Seed Industry

See Day #1 Results

After what I would call a pretty nice showing by Ohio on The Pro Farmer Crop Tour yesterday (could be a record crop), numbers may not be that good for the rest of the week. Unless the guys on the tour from Illinois are just being modest, I believe it. I never expected to see some of the ears that came out of Buckeye fields yesterday and I sure hope they can hold on. Dry weather will continue to prevail and it was a bit dusty the more westerly we went.

On top of worrying about SDS in the soybeans and “tip-back” and stock quality on the corn, now the whispers of an early frost are starting to echo over our continental breakfasts. Hopefully that will not be  a concern for much, much later.

My crew today consists of fellow Ohioan Bill Bayliss at the wheel,  CPA and blogger/writer Paul Neiffer and Kelsey Gee from The Wall Street Journal.… Continue reading

Presented by: Seed Consultants, Simply the Best Value in the Seed Industry

August 19th, 2013

Here we go again! The Pro Farmer Crop Tour kicked off today with the eastern leg starting its trek from Columbus. This is my second year on the tour and it is amazing what you can learn in a year. This year I come prepared with a new set of Frogg Toggs so my clothes aren’t soaking wet until lunch after bathing in a field of soybeans first thing in the morning.

Even technology has come quite a ways as far as being able to post things to the online news sight from the road, shoot videos of interesting finds along the way and even do interviews right from my smart phone. At this rate, we might just sent it along for the ride next year and leave me at home. Who am I kidding? This is honestly one of the most fun weeks of the year for me.… Continue reading

2012 U.S. corn crop at 10.478 billion bu.; avg. yield 120.25 bu. per acre
+/- 1% = 10.374 billion bu. to 10.583 billion bu.; 119.05 bu. to 121.45 bu. per acre

2012 U.S. soybean crop at 2.60 billion bu.; avg. yield of 34.8 bu. per acre
+/- 2% = 2.548 billion bu. to 2.652 billion bu.; 34.1 bu. to 35.5 bu. per acre

NOTE: Pro Farmer made some adjustments to the acreage assumptions. Based on FSA certified acreage data they anticipate increases in planted acreage for both corn and soybeans. However, they are anticipating a harvested acreage percentage of 89.5% for corn and a slight downward adjustment in the harvested acreage percentage for soybeans.

CORN

Ohio: 124 bu. per acre. The Midwest drought started in northwest Ohio. South and east of there extreme moisture and heat stress will guarantee below-average corn yields.

Indiana: 101 bu. per acre. Eastern Indiana showed extreme drought stress.… Continue reading

2012 U.S. corn crop at 10.478 billion bu.; avg. yield 120.25 bu. per acre
+/- 1% = 10.374 billion bu. to 10.583 billion bu.; 119.05 bu. to 121.45 bu. per acre

2012 U.S. soybean crop at 2.60 billion bu.; avg. yield of 34.8 bu. per acre
+/- 2% = 2.548 billion bu. to 2.652 billion bu.; 34.1 bu. to 35.5 bu. per acre

NOTE: Pro Farmer made some adjustments to the acreage assumptions. Based on FSA certified acreage data they anticipate increases in planted acreage for both corn and soybeans. However, they are anticipating a harvested acreage percentage of 89.5% for corn and a slight downward adjustment in the harvested acreage percentage for soybeans.

CORN

Ohio: 124 bu. per acre. The Midwest drought started in northwest Ohio. South and east of there extreme moisture and heat stress will guarantee below-average corn yields.

Indiana: 101 bu. per acre. Eastern Indiana showed extreme drought stress.… Continue reading

August 23rd, 2012

This morning we find ourselves on I-80 west, leaving Iowa City and heading to Owatonna, Minnesota. The “shortest distance between two points” way of thinking is thrown out the window this week as we will be zig zagging all over the Hawkeye State. In the few counties that we saw in Iowa yesterday there were some spots of struggling corn fields, but for the most part numbers were above what we experienced so far in Ohio, Indiana and Illinois. By the way, Ohio is still the state with the biggest decline in expected yields this year compared to last year with a 29% lower estimate than 2011’s final results.

Our first stop will be just west of Cedar Rapids in Iowa County. Iowa’s variability will be seen by tour scouts today and according to DuPont Pioneer Research Manager for the state, Scott Nelson, that is the status quo.… Continue reading

August 22nd, 2012

Despite some dismal corn yields on my route of Day 2 of the Pro Farmer Midwest Crop Tour, something very exciting happened for my group. And no, I do not mean the Beef Manhattan on special at a greasy spoon in Linden, Indiana. We saw some dust flying and we went after it. Harvest has officially started in Indiana. See for yourself what we saw and find out what the yields were on the combine monitor for that Williamsport, Indiana farmer.

On my route yesterday I was joined by Iowa farmer Chris Barron and as we made our way across Indiana his biggest concern was stalk quality. I asked him about that topic.

Chris Barron 2

Brazilian consultant Marcos Rubin couldn’t believe how poorly the soybeans have come along in Indiana.

Marcos Rubin

We are told we will see more of that as we head further west. Today we start out in Bloomington, Illinois and end up in Iowa City for the night.… Continue reading

August 21st, 2012

With all of the variability of Day 1 of the Pro Farmer Crop Tour on Monday, it is easy to see that every day will hold a little something different. One of the things that we expect to see today that we did not run into yesterday is corn that has been harvested early or destroyed altogether.

I talked about that last night with Agronomic Consultant Mark Bernard.

MB Web

Interestingly enough there are folks from the National Ag Statistical Service out of D.C. along for the tour as well. There are stark differences in the way Pro Farmer estimates yield compared to NASS, according to Anthony Prillaman.

AP Web

6:30am – We are heading out from Fishers, Indiana for Day 2 of the Pro Farmer Crop Tour. It is a foggy morning and after a little rain and pop up storms last night things will be off to a wetter start today.… Continue reading

Day 1 – Monday, August 20th, 2012

6:30am – It was an early start this morning as I joined my very first Pro Farmer Crop Tour. So far so good for me as the eastern leg of the tour once again started in Columbus. That made it relatively easy to get going after one last night in my own bed.

Many scouting teams will be part of the effort this week and we have all been given very strict instructions as to what to do at every field. The data collected over the past 20 years has been quite precise and it is our job to make sure that continues as many in the U.S. and around the World watch what comes our of our surveys in fields from Ohio to Minnesota.

My goal is to make you feel as though you are on this tour as well. I will be using every aspect of media to make that happen.… Continue reading