Harvest Your Independence Tour
Sponsored by Wyffels Hybrids
Profitability is on the line in 2025 as U.S. farmers roll into harvest. With uncertainty around commodity prices, tariffs, trade, and input costs, this fall is one to watch. Earlier this year, Farm Journal tracked planting progress through the “Plant Your Independence Tour.” Now, we’re back on the road for the “Harvest Your Independence Tour,” following 6 Midwestern growers and stopping at a different farm each week. From planter to combine, farm finances hinge on every pass — and in 2025, every load counts.
Harvest Your Independence Tour
Mike Madsen’s corn yields at harvest are 20 to 30 bushels over his actual production history (APH), with even the early maturities exceeding expectations.
Corn and soybean harvest is advancing rapidly, thanks to the weather helping crops dry down and opening windows for crews to get into the field.
After a season that started strong and steady, Iowa farmers are facing disappointing corn yields as southern rust and heavy summer rains take a bite out of what could have been record crops.
At the Reints farm in northeast Iowa, corn yields have been running higher than last year, but a lot of yield potential was left in the field due to disease, specifically a rare strain of southern rust.
Corn harvest is just getting started for Rod Parkinson in Wataga, Ill., but early indications show fungicides kept disease pressure down and yields are holding steady.
It’s not disease hurting the Illinois corn and soybean crop this year. It’s dryness and drought. Ashland, Ill., farmer Brent Johnson says just two weeks into harvest, the dry finish to summer is eating into both his corn and soybean yields.
