Crop Scouts Assess Magnitude of Drought and Overall Corn and Soybean Yields in Seven Midwest States

A Closer Look at the 2022 Crop
Today Crop Tour scouts start walking corn and soybean fields across the Midwest to estimate potential yields for the 2022 growing season. The 30th Pro Farmer Crop Tour will travel through seven Midwest states this week.

Starting today, Pro Farmer scouts will fan out across the Corn Belt to measure this year's corn and soybean yield potential during the 30th annual Pro Farmer Crop Tour, set for Aug. 22-25. The tour covers seven Midwestern states including Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, Ohio and South Dakota. Observations and results will be shared nightly at in-person events throughout the tour routes and live-streamed online at https://www.agweb.com.

"We know there are some trouble spots out there, areas that were dry in June and remained that way through pollination, but also many good areas where yields will be impressive," says Brian Grete, Pro Farmer editor and Eastern tour director. "Crop Tour will give us a first-hand look at whether the good areas are enough to compensate for the poorer locations. This is a service we provide to the industry, and anyone with interest can attend one of the nightly meetings or tune into our live-streamed coverage each night."

Pro Farmer Crop Tour is the most thorough and most followed inspection of yield potential during a critical time in the growing season. Crop industry stakeholders watch results closely for insights around projected grain supplies and the effects on commodity markets.

"USDA no longer collects objective yield samples in August, so the Pro Farmer Crop Tour will be the first to measure ear populations and pod counts from actual fields across the Corn Belt," said Chip Flory, AgriTalk host and Western tour director. "The objec­tive of Crop Tour is to find a representative sample of yield poten­tial across the seven Corn Belt states. We'll pull roughly 1,500 corn and 1,500 soybean samples, which should provide significant insight into where this crop is and how it may finish."

Tour findings will be presented nightly at 8 p.m. CDT through a live-streamed broadcast hosted by Clinton Griffiths, Tyne Morgan, Chip Flory and Brian Grete.

Each day's official results will be published on ProFarmer.com. Daily coverage also will be delivered at https://www.agweb.com as well as AgDay TV. Pro Farmer's Brian Grete will join tour scouts on AgriTalk radio at 10:06 a.m. and 2:06 p.m. CDT to share the latest crop observations every day of the tour. Real-time reports will cascade across social media at #PFTour22.

Crop Tour sponsors include Pioneer, Pivot Bio, U.S. Soybean Export Council, Ag Leader, Beck's, Sound Ag, Taranis and RCIS.

Media Contact: Joe May, joem@profarmer.com or go to https://events.farmjournal.com/pro-farmer-crop-tour-2022/media