Pro Farmer Crop Tour 2026
The Pro Farmer Crop Tour provides insights into potential corn and soybean production and gathers scout reporting from 2,000+ fields across Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, Ohio and South Dakota.
Watch Nightly Results
August 17-20, 2026: Tune in here to watch nightly results and analysis starting at 7:55 PM Central.
The Pro Farmer Crop Tour Route
The Pro Farmer Crop Tour 2026 takes place August 17-20, 2026. It simultaneously follows an Eastern and a Western route, with both scouting routes culminating in Rochester, Minnesota. Nightly meetings in each location review daily results, scouting observations and historical comparison data. Attend nightly meetings in person or watch the nightly broadcast online at AgWeb.com/croptour.
Pro Farmer Crop Tour News
Brad Kooima of Kooima Kooima Varilek says live and feeder cattle futures gapped lower on the opening after a human case of New World screwworm (NWS) was announced over the weekend.
Pro Farmer economist Lane Akre says corn and soybeans posted higher weekly closes and should be able to build on that next week with the push from the lower yield and production estimates from the Pro Farmer Crop Tour.
On the heels of Crop Tour, Pro Farmer projects corn yields at 6.1 bu. below USDA’s August estimate, while soybean yield numbers are nearly aligned.
The Minnesota corn crop is going for gold. Pro Farmer Crop Tour scouts expect the crop will reach a record 202.86 bu. average, if it can outpace southern rust and tar spot. Scouts peg the Iowa corn crop at a 198.43 bu. average, but it also faces disease challenges.
The Minnesota corn crop may break records while Iowa crops face disease challenges.
Crop Conditions News
According to USDA’s latest Crop Progress report, 60% of the U.S. corn crop is rated good to excellent, unchanged from last week. Illinois corn conditions continue to improve each week.
The National Weather Service shows isolated areas of Iowa saw more than 20 inches of rain during the month of August. But with much of the summer and month being dry for northeast Iowa, the change was a sudden switch.
100 mph winds were clocked in Oelwein, Iowa, which is located northeast of Waterloo. Chip Flory says driving through the damage, he describes fields and infrastructure damaged in northeast Iowa on Tuesday.
Scouts saw drought damage instead of derecho devastation in eastern and north-central portions of Iowa on the Pro Farmer Crop Tour this year. Minnesota was much the same, with fields showing clear signs of stress.
Pro Farmer scouts pegged the Indiana average yield estimate at 193.48 bu. per acre on Tuesday, just slightly below USDA’s prediction of 194 bu. per acre.
Pro Farmer Analysis
Low water conditions have led to several barges running aground along a key stretch of the lower Mississippi River, the U.S. Coast Guard told Reuters.
A push by India to make more corn-based ethanol has turned Asia’s top corn exporter into a net importer for the first time in decades, squeezing local poultry producers and scrambling global supply chains.
Cattle futures had a strong start to the week following Friday’s Cattle on Feed report. Monday’s trade took prices back to significant resistance levels, will they hold?
As the two leaders of the ProFarmer Crop Tour converge, the eastern route and western route tell two very different stories—Chip Flory and Brian Grete are watching the markets with new perspective on crop conditions.
Numerous barges have run aground on the lower Mississippi River and grain barge shipping rates are soaring to historic highs this week, Reuters reports, hampering already sluggish grain exports from the Gulf.