Since 2008 Pro Farmer has designated veteran scouts on Crop Tour as Master Scouts. Earning this title isn’t easy — it comes with hard work and sweat through many years of crop scouting. Master Scouts share expertise with others to enhance their understanding of what we uncover in Corn Belt fields. ~Brian Grete and Chip Flory
Just a week after the Aug. 10, 2020, derecho ripped through Iowa and other parts of the Corn Belt, the Pro Farmer Crop Tour hit the road to pull samples amid a chorus of questions about how we would account for the thousands of acres of corn laid flat by the extreme flat-line winds. Kyle Wendland of Fredericksburg, Iowa, made a video with the Farm Journal broadcast team showing the process scouts took to ensure an accurate sample was taken when any of our random stops landed in one of the flattened fields. Kyle showed and explained the difference between a field we considered to be “zeroed out” and one that would be put into our spreadsheet. Last year was just a snapshot of Kyle going above and beyond and educating others on Tour — something he has done in a variety of other ways over his many years as a scout. He finds ways to add to the Tour experience and education process for others every year.
In Pete’s 15-plus years on Tour, he has introduced the Tour to countless market-watchers outside of traditional agriculture through his role as head of grain and oilseed analytics at S&P Global Platts. The investor group has learned what Midwest farmers do to produce corn and soybeans (and, honestly, what corn and soybeans are used for) from Pete. His ability to ex-plain production, to explain that production changes (sometimes significantly) from year to year and to relate what he sees on Crop Tour has helped Pro Farmer deliver on its promise to “level the playing field” for all.
Rodney Frick of Seaton, Ill., always embraces scouts from outside of production agriculture, whether it be a hedge fund man-ager or someone from a foreign country, and educates them on his profession — farming. Rodney takes the time to explain to scouts who don’t have farming experience what they are seeing in each field. His big smile and magnetic personality make non-farmer scouts comfortable asking this gentle giant questions so they can get a deeper experience from the Tour. Rodney is also quick to start a conversation with other farmers on Crop Tour, discussing different production practices from areas outside of his western Illinois farm. He learned through his many years of Tour experiences there’s much more to be gained and shared than just measuring the size of the corn and soybean crops.
Scouts from outside traditional agriculture have benefited from Roger’s 20 years on Tour. A farmer from Stanton, Iowa, Roger answers questions, explains why “farmers do it this way” and assures importers from around the world the U.S. will produce the quantity and the quality they want. While on Tour, Roger has been an outstanding representative of U.S. farmers to a global audience, and he helps all scouts tell the story of the Midwest crops with easy-to-understand Tour route reports.
