Preliminary route reports from Day 2 of Pro Farmer Tour
Preliminary Route Report with Brian Grete, eastern Tour leader
What counties (with state and district) have you sampled from?
Indiana: Huntington, Kosciusko, Marshall, Starke.
Districts 1, 2, 3
Corn yield range:
- 126.5 to 205.9 bpa
Corn yield average:
- 173.7 bpa
Soybean pod count range in 3’x3’ square:
- 911 to 2,311
Soybean pod count average in 3’x3’ square:
- 1,268.8
Please share a few (one to three) comments from your route:
The last field we saw was the farthest to maturity—finally saw some dented corn. Maturity is certainly lagging in northern Indiana. Ear counts were good, but not great. Grain length was solid, but again, not great. Nothing looked outstanding—yields were lower than I had imagined. There were some fields that had obviously been replanted in spots, based on the notable variability within the same field.
Soybean pod counts were good—had one really sizeable pod count. Pods were starting to plump—none were flowering. Mother nature will be the determining factor in how the crop finishes out. Soil moisture was average, and fields were relatively clean.
Preliminary Route Report with Mark Bernard, eastern Tour consultant
What counties (with state and district) have you sampled from?
Indiana: Tipton, Howard, Carroll, Cass, Pulaski, Jasper
Corn yield range:
- 156.7 to 230.5 bpa
Corn yield average:
- 191.7 bpa
Soybean pod count range in 3’x3’ square:
- 442.1 to 1675
Soybean pod count average in 3’x3’ square:
- 976.53
Please share a few comments from your route:
The central/northern Indiana corn crop was not quite the crop that I anticipated it might be. The route took us up north into some of the lighter soils—while there were fields under pivot—we pulled all our samples from dryland fields. Some moisture stress was cropping up in areas, especially with heat coming in. The maturity was far advanced from the fields seen in Ohio, most fields were dented or in the process. Weed pressure seemed a bit more prevalent today.
The soybean crop was decent overall, with very little disease and insect pressure. Weather will be key into next month, though.
Preliminary Route Report with Chip Flory, western Tour leader
What counties (with state and district) have you sampled from?
Nebraska: Seward, Saline, Lancaster, Otoe, Gage
Districts 6, 9
Corn yield range:
- 100.5 to 205.4 bpa
Corn yield average:
- 157.14 bpa
Soybean pod count range in 3’x3’ square:
- 598 to 2,188
Soybean pod count average in 3’x3’ square:
- 1,355.6
Please share a few comments from your route:
We were in just two fields of irrigated corn in Nebraska, but Tour consultant, Brent Judisch was in a fair amount of irrigated corn around Grand Island—which looked really good, with a couple fields yielding 250-bu.-plus. Dryland corn on day 2 in Nebraska was generally not good in the south-central part of the state, though it did get better as we got closer to the Platt River and even better as scouts moved east. We had a yield top 200 bu. per acre on dryland in Otoe Co.—there were several dryland corn yields further south at less than 75 bu. per acre. Disease and insect pressure was light—some scouts did find Western Bean Cutworm, but most did not.
Soybean pod counts were all over the place. Water is the issue—some bean fields with good pod counts are now heavily stressed and the forecast suggests more stress this week. That might end the growing season for some of the most-stressed bean fields. There are fields that hold a dryland bean crop this is already starting to “check-out.” There are some stem borer issues in the bean crop. One of my samples had three dead plants and 18 viable plants in a 3-foot row on 30-inch rows. It appeared stem borer was the culprit in this field.
The bean crop is figuring out how many beans it will take to make a pound right now, and that number seems to be going up in most locations.
Preliminary Route Report with Brent Judisch, western Tour consultant
What counties (with state and district) have you sampled from?
Nebraska: Hamilton, York, Fillmore and Saline
Corn yield range:
- 158 to 235 bpa
Corn yield average:
- 198 bpa
Soybean pod count range in 3’x3’ square:
- 237 to 1,816
Soybean pod count average in 3’x3’ square:
- 1,130
Please share a few (one to three) comments from your route:
We started at Grand Island and worked east to York and then South to I-80. All morning samples came from irrigated fields. The Nebraska Irrigated crop looks good—generally healthy overall, but the crop overall will likely be average or slightly below.
Beans look good—irrigated beans should finish strong. Expected to see more pod counts but will likely turn out to be a good crop. Did see some lodging in areas, though it wasn’t a widespread issue. Plant health is solid, with little disease and minimal weed pressure.
