Day 3 of Crop Tour is now behind us. We cross over into first thing in the morning, and cover the Iowa Counties west of I35 from Missouri North to the Minnesota border, ending the day in Spencer.This is our longest distance traveled day of the week so scouts get an early start and have to hustle to get there routes completed and get to Spencer in time for the nightly meeting.
Today our route started in Missouri Valley north of Omaha, and covered Crop Districts 4 and 1.Our 7 corn samples in District 4 had an average of 196 BPA, with a high of 237 and low of 172.This is 5 BPA more than our 2024 average of 196 BPA.Our 13 corn samples in District 1 had an average yield of 206 BPA, with a high of 239 and a low of 156. This is 29 BPA more than our 2024 average of 177BPA.The 2025 corn crop looks really good from the road, but when we get into the field Southern Rust is similar to what we have seen in our Nebraska samples .Almost all of our 20 samples today had Southern Rust, and a few fields also had Northern Corn Leaf Blight. The Rust is worse than I have ever seen, but it is still mostly below the ear leaf. The soil moisture was very wet today as mud stuck to our shoes all day again.It appears the crop has enough moisture to finish strong, but it may be a race if the crop can make it to maturity before the Rust pressure begins to trim final yield. Most fields were denting and a few of the fields in District 4 were in full dent.We measured a lot of yield potential today, we hope this crop can finish out to the potential it has today.
Our route of soybeans also consisted of 7 samples pulled in District 4. We had an average of 1571 pods in a 3x3 square.We had a high of 2411, and a low of 716.This was 20% more than our 2024 average of 1254.The 13 samples we pulled in District 1 had an average of 1267 pods in a 3x3 square, with a high of 1810 and a low of 526.This was 13% more than our 2024 average of 1108. As we drove North today Sudden Death was in almost every field we passed.Some just had Sudden Death in the lower areas and in the compacted areas.A few fields had it in many different areas and even made it into our samples.I pulled one plant that had 70 of the 75 pods already dead.The next couple of weeks are going to be critical in how this soybean crop finishes.Last year the soybean crop in most of the Midwest just ran out of moisture in the end and we ended up with disappointing final yields.Just like the corn crop this soybean crop appears to have enough moisture to finish.But how this pressure from Sudden Death progresses Is going to play a big part in if this soybean crop can live up to potential we saw in our samples today.
Tomorrow is our 4th and final day of the 2025 Crop Tour. We leave Spencer and head North and Northeast and work our 10 routes towards and ending up in Rochester.We’ve been fortunate with the weather this week that its been warm but not unbearable.We only had a little rain on us on Monday morning but otherwise its been decent scouting weather.We’ve been pretty muddy in the fields but as a farmer that’s what you hope for in the Third week of August most years. Tomorrow looks sunny and mild so hopefully all of the scouts from both halves of the tour have a safe trip to Rochester for our final meeting.
From the Rows | Brent Judisch—Day 3
The Iowa corn crop is plagued with disease, but has seemed to manage it well thus far. Soybean pod counts were strong.
(Ben Nuelle, @IowaBen)