Preliminary Route Report with Brent Judisch, western Tour consultant
What counties (with state and district) have you sampled from?
South Dakota: Districts 6 & 9—Minnehaha, Turner, Hutchinson
Corn yield range: 140 to 198 bu. per acre
Corn yield average: 144 bu. per acre
Soybean pod count range in 3’x3’ square: 910 to 1339
Soybean pod count average in 3’x3’ square: 1168
Please share a few (one to three) comments from your route:
We saw very little disease and covered 200 miles and only ran across one field of SDS. There was no insect pressure and the crop looks really good from the road. However, greensnap was prevalent around the Viborg area, which really brought the yield down. We measured average ear rounds and increased ear length. The bean crop is done blooming and in full pod, corn is starting to dent. No full dent yet—we’ve had mud all morning, so there’s enough moisture to finish the crop. Soybeans were in full pod and progressing nicely.
Preliminary Route Report with Lane Akre, eastern Tour leader
What counties (with state and district) have you sampled from?
Ohio: Districts 4 & 5—Miami, Champaign, Delaware, Union, Darke
Corn yield range: 126 bu. per acre 238 bu. per are
Corn yield average: 198 bu. per acre
Soybean pod count range in 3’x3’ square: 408 to 2880
Soybean pod count average in 3’x3’ square: 1622
Please share a few comments:
The corn is a tale of two crops—it’s either late-planted and immature or early and very mature. There were areas that really needed moisture—there were cracks in the ground and the later crop needed moisture especially. However, the further west we got, the crop became more consistent—not necessarily better, but less variable. The corn was very clean, no disease or insect pressure to speak of. There was some tipback in a few of the fields. Ear sizes were variable—seems like there were emergence issues due to planter skips and flooding and ponding early in the growth stages.
Soybeans were pretty consistent for the most part—the crop is pretty healthy. Some insect pressure, and no disease pressure to speak of.
Preliminary Route Report with Chip Flory, western Tour leader
What counties (with state and district) have you sampled from?
South Dakota: District 9—Lincoln Nebraska: District 3—Dakota, Burt, Thurston Counties
Corn yield range: 176 to 203 bu. per acre
Corn yield average: 192.7
Soybean pod count range in 3’x3’ square: 1303.7
Soybean pod count average in 3’x3’ square: 914 to 2246
Please share a few comments from your route:
The consistency is the name of the game. We were expected to see more variation. There is above average disease, Southern Rust and Gray Leaf Spot, but it isn’t as bad as what we had expected. Most of the corn is early dent, so the crop has a chance of bringing home the yield that it shows today.
Soybeans have got moisture and development pace is right where it needs to be, done flowering. Beans felt pretty cookie cutter for a while. When we got into the Missouri River flats in Nebraska, we did start to see Sudden Death, and it’s heavy…and early. That has us pretty concerned on yield. But overall the crop was very clean.
Preliminary Route Report with Kyle Wendland, eastern Tour consultant
What counties (with state and district) have you sampled from?
Ohio: Districts 4 & 5—Madison, Champaign, Shelby, Darke Counties
Corn yield range: 166 to 233 bu. per acre
Corn yield average: 191.5 bu. per acre
Soybean pod count range in 3’x3’ square: 391 to 2784
Soybean pod count average in 3’x3’ square: 1312
Please share a few comments from your route:
Our route started in Dublin and headed west. Conditions were pretty dry, and the crop overall wasn’t as consistent as I was expecting. Disease pressure wasn’t real prevalent in all fields, but there was one field that had a lot of common Rust once in the field, and another that had a lot of Tar Spot showing up. It’s not anything that will be disastrous toward yield but will definitely affect yield into finish. Maturity was variable—there were ears that were starting to hang down, dented, early milk stage, and one field was late milk/early dough. We were kind of surprised at the varied maturities.
Soybean variability was quite notable as well. We noticed some Sudden Death Syndrome. There were a couple fields that were really short, and a couple with weed pressure. We spoke with scouts on a northern route, and they mentioned SDS was present in several fields. A couple of the best pod counts were low population but had really big plants. There was little to no insect pressure throughout the day.