Pro Farmer Crop Tour, Day 3: Western Iowa Weakened by Drought and Pests, Illinois Shows Promise

Average is not what most corn and soybean farmers aspire to with their crops.

A grade of C garners little to no excitement or sense of accomplishment, yet that was the quality of corn many Pro Farmer Crop Tour scouts found as they worked their way across western Iowa on Wednesday.

WESTERN LEG OF PRO FARMER CROP TOUR 2022

Coming out of drought-stricken Nebraska, western Iowa proved fairly average for scouts on Wednesday.

“It seems like everybody wants to talk about record yield or disaster. And we’re neither one of those right now,” says Jarod Creed, western leg scout and owner of JC Marketing Service.
“We’re kind of in the middle of the ground for yield potential here today.”

Signs of drought and insect pressure did not go unnoticed, however. Scout Peter Meyer says he’s still not impressed with the corn crop due to one major reason.

“Usually we come out of a field like this with 100 to 105 bu. per acre. But we’ve been coming out with mid 80s,” he says. “The weather did not cooperate early on, creating pollination issues. This is where we’re losing the yield right now.”

Similarly, Brad Feckers, western leg crop scout and farmer from Shellrock, Ia., found fields near Humboldt that have been all but wiped out by rootworm.

Michael Maguire farms the southwest corn of Iowa. He says coming into July 4th, he was betting on a good crop. Now, he says corn yields will be well below last year’s yields.

“In this area in last five years, you’d think anything below 200 is about a crop failure. That’s why we did two rounds with inputs--one pass of herbicide and then we did fungicide,” says Maguire. “I’d say we’re going to be lowered by at least 20 bu.”

The more promising crop story in western Iowa seems to be in soybeans.

Carroll county, Iowa, might be the garden spot of Iowa, as producers say the region has grown “tremendous” beans in the past--a trend they believe will continue this year, according to Creed.

“I would say there’s a greater chance today of these producers yielding APH or above in beans over corn, for sure,” he says.

EASTERN LEG OF PRO FARMER CROP TOUR 2022

Illinois scouts are finding a good crop but maybe not the bumper crop they did last year mainly due to heat and moisture stress.

Bryan Divis, Fayetteville, Tenn., farmer drove a route from border-to-border. He says Illinois’ crop got better as they moved west.

“The corn crop has excellent plant health and looks uniform from the road,” he says. “But you get 3, 4 or 5 rows in and the ears, overall, are a little bit smaller.”

With #tipback all but trending on Twitter, Divis says he’s seen his fair share out east. He estimates 80-percent of the ears he’s pulled have show some level of tip back.

“Still a great crop, just not what they [USDA] had seen last year,” Divis says. “It’s gonna be tough to get 203 out of Illinois this year, from what I’ve seen.”

Central Illinois farmer Randy Bounds agrees, as his operation was “looking at a 240 bu. per acre average.” But now, with tip back and rain that fell too late in the season, Bounds is changing his outlook.

Some parts of Illinois fared out better than others. Eastern leg scout Kristi Goedken sorted out a 247.5 bu. per acre estimate in Hancock county, Ill., snagging the best corn yield estimate for Crop Tour so far.

Ed Sims, eastern leg scout and owner of Yarbro Farms, spent the last three years on the eastern leg of Crop Tour. He foresees “good” yield potential coming out of Illinois soybean crop, so long as Mother Nature serves up another rain shower.

Illinois farmer Brian Sever says his operation is running on a 4.5-inch moisture deficit that’s weakened his beans from what he thought would be a superb crop to his 65-bu. average production history.

However, if rain doesn’t fall soon, he’s not sure he’ll come close to that 66 bu. sweet spot that USDA is predicting.

“All in all, I think our soybeans are close to average in Illinois before it’s all over,” he says. “I think we’ll come in down from last year, but it could be real close.”

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