On the fourth day of the Pro Farmer Midwest Crop Tour, the western and eastern legs of the Tour met in Austin, Minn., to release results from Minnesota and Iowa. The Tour found an average corn yield of 175.93 bu. per acre for Minnesota and 164.62 bu. per acre for Iowa. Pod counts in a 3’x3' square totaled 1,124.20 in Minnesota and 1,221.94 in Iowa.
Pro Farmer senior market analyst and eastern Tour director Brian Grete had this to say about the fields in eastern and central Iowa: “The corn yields, while consistently better than most of the yields pulled from Ohio, Indiana and Illinois, weren’t nearly strong enough. Soybean pod counts were also improved, although they were variable.”
Grete reports that soybean counts on his route were all over the board, but they were consistently insect-free.
However, eastern Tour consultant Mark Bernard says he saw more disease pressure in soybeans yesterday. He also notes that Goss’s wilt was “scary in some fields. It wasn’t hard to find it in every one of our corn fields.”
Western Tour consultant Terry Johnston says it was evident that it had been some time since the areas of Minnesota he sampled had received significant rain. He says, “While ear counts were good, most lacked length and virtually every one had tip-back.”
Johnston says the bean fields in Minnesota were mostly disease- and insect-free, as has been the case for most of the Tour. He says, “The Minnesota bean crop has good potential, but it will take timely rains over a significant area to help it realize that full potential.”
Thursday night marked the conclusion of the 19th annual Pro Farmer Midwest Crop Tour. The Pro Farmer newsletter, which will be released at 1:30 p.m. CT today, will contain Pro Farmer’s U.S. 2011 corn and soybean crop estimates. These numbers are based on Tour data and other factors.
Official state-by-state results are available at ProFarmer.com and AgWeb.com.
Following are links to comments from Crop Tour leaders:
For additional Pro Farmer Midwest Crop Tour coverage.
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About Pro Farmer and Professional Farmers of America: Professional Farmers of America (PFA) is part of Farm Journal Media, the nation’s leading agricultural media company. PFA provides news, perspective, and analysis in a variety of formats including the weekly Pro Farmer newsletter -- the nation’s most widely circulated agricultural newsletter. The organization is also known for its seminars and live events, including the Midwest Crop Tour.
