Soybeans Steal the Show in Indiana During Day 2 of Pro Farmer Crop Tour

A picture-perfect morning welcomed scouts Tuesday in Nebraska. And as scouts set out to measure one ear of corn after another, Western tour scouts liked what they saw in irrigated fields.

“We've had a really good couple of really good samples, a high at 244 bushels [per acre] so far, which is excellent,” says Brent Judisch, western Tour consultant.

In Nebraksa, USDA's latest Crop Production report projecting a large corn crop, but one to the tune of 40 million bushels shy of last year's record. And fields sprouting the possibiity of big bushes are exactly what scouts saw on Tuesday, an excellent crop which veteran scout Judisch says wasn’t a surprise.

“We kind of expect that,” he says. “This is really good area of soil in Nebraska, and it's all irrigated.”

But as the scouts sampled more fields, across the state more damage was revealed. Scouts waded through some lodged corn to measure wind-impacted crops.

“One was obviously right at pollination that affected development,” he says. “That field of corn is way behind, the other fields had been normal.”

Judisch says wind-ravaged fields are almost an expectation in Nebraska on Pro Farmer Crop Tour.

“Every year in Nebraska we always find storm damage,” says Judisch. “Monday we sampled and saw no storm damage, which is kind of an anomaly.”

While wind-blown corn is something that’s more common in areas of Nebraska, the scout says farmers will still be able to harvest the lodged ears.

“It’s not been drastic, or at least way less than normal. But we have seen a couple instances we've had some corn that was lodged pretty bad,” he adds.

As scouts saw little disease across Nebraska, the state also produced a less mature crop from what these scouts saw in South Dakota on Monday.

“One thing I have noticed is that as we moved from northeast Nebraska into southeastern Nebraska, the maturity is a lot different,” he says. “Yesterday we had real hard dent, a pretty mature crop today that are more back to the dough stage, again just starting to dent. It kind of surprises me that in 200 miles we’ve changed crop maturity that much.”

And soybeans saw high pod counts, showing potential continues to flower in Nebraska this year.

“I'm in the southeast part of the state now, and I was in irrigated beans today that made me a little nervous when I was walking into them because they were about armpit high,” Flory said on AgriTalk Tuesday, as he was touring Nebraska. “I’ve been in those fields before where they look awesome from the road but when you walk into them, all of a sudden, you pull plants and there are 10 pods per plant. That was not the case in these beans. I felt like I was in legitimate 70 bushel [per acre] beans. Keep in mind that’s one irrigated field on one route.”

Flory says that one field was a bit of the exception in Nebraska. 

It’s soybeans that also stole the show in portions of Indiana and Illinois Tuesday.

“I think this is one heck of a bean crop. They've got a comment down here, if they can bring it to fruition,” says Mark Bernard, agronomist on the eastern half of Pro Farmer Crop Tour. “It's got a nice height to it, nice color to it, the pods are well filled.”

With loaded plants and impressive pod sets, Bernard says if rains can continue to fall, the crop will finish strong.

“It just looks like if we can get the right kind of weather to finish this thing out, they should have a heck of a crop,” he adds.

Even with minor disease dotting some Indiana fields, it wasn’t enough to dampen the overall outlook on crop tour for Indiana’s crop potential.

“I just did find one bean leaf beetle, which it was more of a novelty than anything. We found a little bit of Japanese beetle pressure here and there, but not anything we've seen in years past,” Bernard says.

USDA is also forecasting for a record corn crop in the Hoosier state, with both the crop and yield both pegged at   3.7% above 2020. That yield, penciled in at 214 bushels per acre. As the corn crop in eastern Indiana and western Illinois also garnered praise.  

The crop is very impressive, what we've seen so far,” says Dan Sturgill, a scout on the eastern half of the tour. “This field we just sampled has several double ears that will be harvestable. So we're working on getting that calculated right now.”

A few disease issues in corn were enough to note, but it wasn’t enough to bring down the expectations for what could be a bountiful crop this year.

“Our last sample, there were northern corn leaf blight that was very bad, and it's going to take the top out of that yield,” he says.

As scouts leave another big crop in the Eastern Corn Belt on Wednesday, Bernard says Iowa will be a key state to scout crop potential this year.

“I think that trend [strong yields] will continue through Illinois. But as we get into Iowa, I’m afraid we're going to start to see where the where the rubber hits the road and dryness will start to be an issue.”

Here are the final results from Pro Farmer Crop Tour day 2, released at 8 Central each night.