Last week, Ken and Jeanenne Ferrie went on what Ken calls a 2,700-mile personal crop tour. The extensive road trip went through one set of states on the way north and through a different set of states on the way home.
Some of the states they drove through included parts of Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Ohio, Wisconsin and Iowa, along with their home state of Illinois.
What they saw illustrated cases of the haves and the have nots in corn and soybean crop conditions.
“Northern Indiana was dry, especially the non-irrigated fields,” Ferrie says. “Ohio looked good. As we got into New York it was more hit and miss on crop quality, with some areas having adequate moisture while others didn’t,” Ken says.
Some additional crop perspectives, he offers, include:
In the parts of Canada they traveled through, the corn looked impressive while the soybeans were at or slightly above average.
In Michigan, the Ferries saw fields that had received above-average moisture to too much rain but, in general, they found a good corn crop.
Iowa had a mix of crop conditions: southern Iowa had a lot of tough-looking corn where die-back was already underway. Further north, around Highway 20, the crops looked good and have plenty of water to finish well.
“This area was supporting some of the highest corn yields I’ve seen all year. They’re 20, 25 and some cases 30 days from black layer,” Ken says.
“Several of the fields that we were in are blowing up with tar spot, and the guys are spraying a second time to keep it knocked down,” he adds. “I predict the northeast half of Iowa, a little bit of Minnesota and Wisconsin will be the tar spot alley this year. I think those guys are going to have to be on top of that when it comes to harvest.”
Want more insights on crop conditions across the U.S.? Check out the AgWeb Crop Comments here and weigh-in on what’ happening in your fields, too: https://www.agweb.com/crop-comments
During the trip, Ken interviewed a number of farmers to get perspective on what they’re seeing and dealing with this season. You can listen to each of those interviews here:
Zach Margaret May
Crop-Tech Consulting · Crop Tour Interview: Margaret May
Matt and Scott
Crop-Tech Consulting · Crop Tour Interview: Matt and Scott
Greg Stewart
Crop-Tech Consulting · Crop Tour Interview: Greg Stewart - Maizex
Paul and Mike Sullivan
