Keep Tabs on Make or Break Crop Districts

When the 2013 Pro Farmer Midwest Crop Tour concluded in late August, the Pro Farmer team tallied a yield estimate of 154.1 bu. per acre for corn and 41.8 bu. per acre for soybeans with one big caveat: Mother Nature needs to cooperate. “The potential is out there for those yields as long as we have ideal weather and an extended growing season,” noted Chip Flory, Pro Farmer Editor.
Knowing that this year’s fields contain enormous variability that is difficult to spot from ground, Farm Journal Media launched Eye in the Sky to help track progress through harvest. The effort sent Flory and others up in the air to capture video of the key crop districts that will make or break 2013 yields. Thermal maps from GeoSys of the same areas provided a second high-tech look at the crops below. Catch the reports on television or online.