Preliminary Route Report with Brent Judisch, western Tour consultant
What counties (with state and district) have you sampled from?
Minnesota: District 8--Martin, Watonwan, Blue Earth, Freeborn, Waseca, Faribault counties
Corn yield range: 189 to 252
Corn yield average: 217
Soybean pod count range in 3’x3’ square: 332 to 1578
Soybean pod count average in 3’x3’ square: 1,046
Please share a few (one to three) comments from your route:
Health is good, a little bit of rust and a little bit of northern leaf blight, but nothing like Iowa or South Dakota. Looks good from the road and in the field. The most mature crop we’ve seen is in southern Minnesota over the past four days. Much more mature than we’ve seen anywhere else. Every field w’'ve sampled there has been no shortage of mud. No storm damage, or really any issues to speak of. Good stand, good conditions. There’s water sitting in ditches and end rows—they really had quite a bit of rain. Very, very, very wet.
The bean crop is generally good; we’re not seeing as much disease as Iowa and Nebraska. There is some white mold showing up. The lower pod counts are a result of too much rain. There is some disease, but mainly along field edges and lower lying areas. The plant counts are there, just not the pod counts to have larger yields. Maturity is comparable to Iowa, not seeing any blooms and pods are filling, so frost is not a risk, unless they were to come extra early. There has been some weed pressure with too much rain keeping producers from getting out in the field to spray. No insect pressure has been very minimal.
Preliminary Route Report with Lane Akre, eastern Tour leader
What counties (with state and district) have you sampled from?
Iowa: Districts 6 & 3 Lin, Delaware, Clayton, Allamakee counties
Corn yield range: 108 to 253.52 bu. per acre
Corn yield average: 1878.4
Soybean pod count range in 3’x3’ square: 795 to 1,747
Soybean pod count average in 3’x3’ square: 1,420
Please share a few comments:
Every field has either tar spot or rust, oftentimes it has been both. There’s a big impact from all the rain, with drowned out areas in fields. Ear counts have been somewhat consistent, which has helped drive yields, but we’ve had a couple fields with really small or inconsistent ears. The corn crop is not as mature as what we saw in Illinois, so the crop has a long way to go, which is concerning with all the disease.
Soybeans continue to look pretty good; disease pressure (SDS) has been present and insects—Japanese Beetles. Beans are more mature than last year—nothing is really turning. There’s not a lot of four-bean pods, mostly 2 and 3-bean pods.
Preliminary Route Report with Chip Flory, western Tour leader
What counties (with state and district) have you sampled from?
Minnesota: District 8 & 9—Faribault, Blue Earth, Waseca, Freeborn, Dodge, Olmsted counties
Corn yield range: 133 to 248.7 bu. per acre
Corn yield average: 202.8 bu. per acre
Soybean pod count range in 3’x3’ square: 614 to 1,464
Soybean pod count average in 3’x3’ square: 1,120.9
Please share a few comments from your route:
Southern Rust was in every stop, but the yield potential has been built I called western sneaky, and it was good, but didn’t wow us. Then I’d look over at our yields and everything was over 200 bu. I think Minnesota is pretty sneaky, too. We had taken six samples and were running a 212 bu. per acre average. But so much is going to depend on what weather does over the next days. If it quits raining and cools off, it will slow down the impact of the rust. But the problem then, is, there’s still enough moisture out there, with cooler temps, Tar Spot will show up.
In bean, there’s a common occurrence of diseases. Just driving down the road, you can see some of the dead plants. There are whole fields that are becoming discolored. It’s an awesome year for yield and awesome yield for disease. It’s hard to tell how it’s going to scale out in the end. The crop was done blooming, pod fill was similar to western Iowa, but not a concern. The disease is where the concern is at.
Preliminary Route Report with Kyle Wendland, eastern Tour consultant
What counties (with state and district) have you sampled from?
Iowa: Districts 3 & 6--Lynn, Delaware, Buchanan, Fayette, Bremer, Chickasaw, Howard counties
Corn yield range: 171 to 227 bu. per acre
Corn yield average: 199 bu. per acre
Soybean pod count range in 3’x3’ square: 852 to 1548
Soybean pod count average in 3’x3’ square: 1,187
Please share a few comments from your route:
Beans have been pretty clean, no weed or insect pressure to speak of. Haven’t seen much disease, either. Have seen very small spot of Sudden Death. The crop is pretty mature overall. Have seen some lodging from wind damage.
Corn is less mature in northeastern Iowa compared to what we saw in east Central Iowa yesterday. Disease pressure in corn—Southern Rust, Southern Rust, Southern Rust. Even in fields that have been visibly sprayed had it. It’s hard to believe that this won’t have an impact on yields as the crop finishes, since it has such a long way to go. Some nitrogen deficiency is visible, but not the main concern, there is also some storm damage.