Live coverage: Pro Farmer Crop Tour rolls into Indiana, Nebraska
Follow along as scouts assess corn and soybean crop potential after finding yields and pod counts for Ohio and South Dakota down from last year’s Tour.
The Pro Farmer Crop Tour continues across the Midwest, with scouts on the eastern leg sweeping across Indiana into Illinois. The western leg will cover Nebraska. The four-day event will see scouts pull thousands of corn and soybean samples across seven states in the first, wide-scale, field-level look at 2026 corn and soybean crop potential. We’re covering all the action — as well as the market reaction — here. We’ll bring you updates from the field, the markets and from the experts who are also tracking action.
Pods and yield potential
Zaner Ag Hedge’s Ted Seifried notes South Dakota pod counts are down sharply after having ran high in recent years, but it’s August weather that seals the deal.
Pro Farmer scouting results day 1 hot take: soybean pod counts are down from the huge numbers from the last couple years. But, pod counts are not yield. They are a measure of potential. August weather hasn’t been good last few years and that potential wasn’t met. #pftour26 pic.twitter.com/4R72uxoywm
— Ted Seifried (@TheTedSpread) August 18, 2026
A recap of Day 1
The crop tour found an average corn yield potential of 149.09 bushels per acre in South Dakota, down 14.4% from 174.18 bpa on the 2025 Tour and down 8.4% from the three-year average of 162.7 bpa. Soybean pod counts in a 3’X3' square averaged 945.98, down more than 20% from 2025 and 12.1% below the three-year average. South Dakota produced record crops last year but has faced significant drought and heat stress in 2026.
Day 1 Crop Tour Results: South Dakota
Turning to the east, the tour found average corn yield potential of 180.18 bpa, down 3% from 185.69 bpa in 2025 and 2.2% below the three-year average of 184.31 bpa. Pod counts averaged 1,186.3, down 7% from 1,287.28 in 2025 and down 4.7% from the three-year average of 1,256.71.