Pro Farmer Crop Tour, Day 4: Saved the Best Crop Conditions for Last

Pro Farmer Crop Tour attendees made their way to Rochester, Minn., this evening.

The trek north came with wet fields, pests and the best crops some scouts found this week.

Western Leg of the Pro Farmer Crop Tour 2022

Brad Nelson, a Minnesota farmer, says a wet spring and late planting didn’t hurt his corn yields.

“It was May 7 when I started, but we had a really good week of weather after we planted,” he says. “After we planted, it was up in eight days — it all came up, which was a big key to our success.”

Thanks to timely rains, Nelson is confident he will have record corn yields come harvest.

Tim Gregerson, a scout and Nebraska farmer, says his Minnesota samples have more kernel depth than three-quarters of the samples he’s taken all tour.

“The one thing that impressed me most is the ear count,” he says. “Here in southern Minnesota, ear count ... is better than Iowa on the samples we’ve taken today.”

Soybeans took a hit in Minnesota, along with other stops on the western leg this year. While the plants look decent, counts aren’t up to par.

“All summer long, I didn’t feel like beans had the oomph to really get over the top,” Nelson says. “Some of our pod counts aren’t even 1,000, so we’re a little bit light this year.”

Sudden Death Syndrome (SDS) lingers in fields near Nelson. He’s preparing for the worst and hoping for the best.

“We have a little bit of SDS here and there, and I know a couple of my friends have found some white in low-lying soil,” he says. “It’s out there, but whether now or whether later it’ll be a big factor in yield remains to be seen.”

Eastern Leg of the Pro Farmer Crop Tour 2022

In 2021, tar spot and corn rootworm wreaked havoc on yields in the east. This year, producers are more optimistic as pest pressure has remained at bay.

“We’re gonna be above the trend line,” says Scott Hingtgen, a Bellevue, Iowa, farmer. “We typically range in yield from 200 to 230 bu. and there’s an outside chance of getting 250.”

According to Pro Farmer’s Brian Grete, he thinks Iowa’s corn yields will tip over 2021’s totals.

“There were some holes in eastern Iowa last year, especially in the northeast,” he says. “I’m not seeing those this year, anywhere. I think we’ll probably be above 2021.”

Grete also sees plenty of yield potential in soybeans, so long as they “get the moisture and finishing” they need before the season’s out.

Eastern Iowa producers think they’ll hit at or above their APH.

“If we could catch a rain here, we could fill out what I call ‘bonus bushels’, says Rob Roettger, Dysart, Iowa farmer. “I really think our yields will resemble something in that 75 range.”

The big question for both corn and soybeans: Can the east make up for the problems in western Iowa? Grete says corn has a real shot, “but it’s too early to know on beans.”

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