Recap: Pro Farmer Crop Tour concludes with sweep across Minnesota and Iowa

The 2026 Pro Farmer Crop Tour concluded Thursday night, with Minnesota standing out amid largely lackluster corn yield and soybean pod count results across the Corn Belt. Minnesota’s corn yield came in at a strong 199.01 bushels per acre, down 1.9% from 202.86 in 2025 but 8.7% above the three-year average. USDA in August forecast Minnesota’s corn yield to fall 1.5% from last year’s record 201 bushels per acre to 197 bushels.

Minnesota’s soybean crop potential was particularly impressive, with a pod count of 1,257.80 in a 3’X3' square, up 0.8% from last year and 15.4% above the three-year average. USDA forecast the state’s average soybean yield to fall 8.7% to 48 bushels an acre from last years 52.5 bushels. Indeed, the soybean figure stands out in that it was the only crop in any of the seven states sampled by the Crop Tour to show a year-over-year rise. Indeed, the tone of the Tour was set early with corn yields in Ohio and Indiana declining from last year in contrast to USDA’s forecasts for higher yields. A nearly 8% drop in Illinois’ corn yield from the 2025 Tour estimate, far larger than the 0.9% decline in USDA’s August forecast, provided an added boost for corn futures on Thursday, with the December contract ending above $5 for the first time since May.

Thursday’s results saw eastern and central Iowa pull up estimates after lackluster readings in western Iowa on Wednesday. The state’s average corn yield came in at 193.98 bushels per acre, down 2.2% from last year and 1.4% above the three-year average. USDA expects Iowa’s corn yield to rise to a record 216 bushels this year, up 2.9% from 2025. Soybean pods in a 3’X3’ square averaged 1,362.93, down 1.6% from 2025’s Tour and up 5.2% from the three-year average. USDA expects Iowa’s soybean yield to fall to 62 bushels per acre, down 2.4%

Respectable Iowa results and a strong Minnesota showing likely won’t offset concerns, particularly around corn, elsewhere in the Midwest. Soybeans, meanwhile, could finish out the year strong if weather cooperates given adequate soil moisture after recent rains, though drying and seasonal temperatures would be a big help in inundated areas of the eastern Corn Belt.

Now that the results are all in, we will release our Pro Farmer national corn and soybean estimates at 1:30 p.m. CT on Friday.

(Pro Farmer)

With full results in for Iowa, the state’s average corn yield came in at 193.98 bushels per acre, down 2.2% from last year and 1.4% above the three-year average. USDA expects Iowa’s corn yield to rise to a record 216 bushels this year, up 2.9% from 2025.

(Pro Farmer)

Soybean pods in a 3’X3’ square averaged 1,362.93, down 1.6% from 2025’s Tour and up 5.2% from the three-year average. USDA expects Iowa’s soybean yield to fall to 62 bushels per acre, down 2.4%.

(Pro Farmer)

The 2026 Pro Farmer Crop Tour pegged Minnesota’s corn yield at 199.01 bushels per acre, down 1.9% from 202.86 bushels in 2025 but 8.7% above the three-year average.

(Pro Farmer)

The number of soybean pods in a 3’X3' square was 1,257.80, up 0.8% from the 2025 tour and 15.4% above the three-year average.

Scouts find a more variable crop than expected in Minnesota.

Preliminary Route Report with Chip Flory, western Tour leader

What counties (with state and district) have you sampled from?

MINNESOTA: Brow, Watonwan, Blue Earth, Faribault, Waseca counties

Corn yield range: 158 to 257 bu. per acre

Corn yield average: 198.7 bu. per acre

Soybean pod count range in 3’x3’ square: 856 to 1,235

Soybean pod count average in 3’x3’ square: 1,267.86

Please share a few comments from your route:

The crop in MN is more variable than what I expected. As we were making our way across the state. Grain length continues to be an issue and probably the primary driver of lacking yield. It is a little dry, though – even corn could benefit from a rain. Most of the crop is already dented, there have been some in the late dough stage, so the heat and heat and dryness has probably pushed the crop. I had lunch with a certified crop advisor in the area that has many years of experience on the Crop Tour, he said there is a big a difference between corn on corn and corn on beans.

On beans, we spent the first three days of the Tour and seeing nothing but a sea of grain, in Minnesota it’s a little bit different. There are yellow spots and drowned out spots in fields, with areas that haven’t had enough water to sustain the crop. There could be some diseases that are starting to develop in some of these bean fields.

Preliminary Route Report with Brent Judisch, western Tour consultant

What counties (with state and district) have you sampled from?

MINNESOTA - Martin, Watonwan, Blue Earth, Freeborn, Waseca counties

Corn yield range: 119 to 223

Corn yield average: 194.3

Soybean pod count range in 3’x3’ square: 816 to 1,474

Soybean pod count average in 3’x3’ square: 1,157

Please share a few (one to three) comments from your route:

Corn samples have been down 2% from 2025, down about 1% on ear count and 1% on ear length but pretty close kernels around. It’s a very healthy crop, there have been no noticeable diseases, we did have two anomaly stops – a field of corn that was planted in 15” corn row. The crop looks good; we just can’t get ear counts and ear lengths over the top. Heavy rains after planting are the likely culprits – and I think there have been too many hot nights during pollination to shave the top-end yield off. We’ve been rating the crop as strong all day long, there’s adequate moisture in the ground to help push the crop to the finish line. What we’re seeing is full dent consistently, which is a little farther along than what I had thought.

Soybean samples have been 6% less than our route in 2025. The overall crop has been very clean as far as weeds. There is minimal disease and white mold. We think we have seen some Iron Chlorosis, mainly around hog buildings, where fertility is high, but every field has been standing well. No storm damage or really any issues to discuss, it just continues to underperform.

Scouts on the eastern leg have discovered a much better corn and bean crop in eastern Iowa, though there have been more reports of samples with sudden death and white mold in soybeans.

Preliminary Route Report with Lane Akre, eastern Tour leader

What counties (with state and district) have you sampled from?

IOWA – Grundy, Butler, Bremer, Chickasaw, Floyd, Mitchell

Corn yield range: 157 to 249 bu. per acre

Corn yield average: 203 bu. per acre

Soybean pod count range in 3’x3’ square: 672 to 2,054

Soybean pod count average in 3’x3’ square: 1,438.8

Please share a few (one to three) comments from your route:

We’ve seen the best corn we’ve seen all week today. We started northwest of Cedar Falls and worked north of there. We knew that the good corn would be North of Highway 20 and we found it. It was the most mature crop we’ve seen so far, also. The milk line is about halfway down. It has been surprisingly drier and gets drier as we head north. We haven’t seen any disease or storm damage to speak of.

Bean pod counts have been very good – there has been very little disease pressure. We’ve sampled a really good-looking bean crop today. It’s hard to imagine it being much better.

Preliminary Route Report with Kyle Wendland, eastern Tour consultant

What counties (with state and district) have you sampled from?

IOWA: Linn, Delaware, Fayette, Bremer, Chickasaw, Howard, Mitchell

Corn yield range: 153 to 235 bu. per acre

Corn yield average: 200.7 bu. per acre

Soybean pod count range in 3’x3’ square: 590.4 to 1,523

Soybean pod count average in 3’x3’ square: 1,170.5

Please share a few comments from your route:

This morning our route started north of Cedar Rapids, fields were wet from dew and our second and fourth sample had severe hail damage. We ran into a gentleman that said the hail on his farm came about a week ago. A lot of the ears had bruises and there was some greensnap mixed in as well. I would assume the damage we came across was the result of two separate storms, based on the distance between the two fields. As we’re working north, we’re seeing less disease pressure in corn. Yields were pretty disappointing this morning. We met up with another route, ironically, they were sitting with a 160-bu. average and had one sample that was less 100 bu. per acre, maybe due to lacking fertilizer. Overall, though, we’ve seen better ear lengths a kernel depths today.

The further north we’ve gone, the more sudden death we’ve seen. We’ve also seen a lot of white mold than we’ve seen in previous days – the spores that affect the plants are released in June; recent weather has accelerated the infection of the plants. We passed through my home town today and the bean crop looks totally different than when we set off for Crop Tour – the diseases have really affected the plant health in recent days.

Results for Iowa and Minnesota will be released right here tonight. Tune in at 7:55 p.m. CT.

The Pro Farmer Crop Tour on Wednesday found a drop of more than 7% for Illinois’ corn yield versus last year’s Tour and the three-year average, dashing expectations for better news as scouts hit the heart of the Corn Belt. Preliminary western Iowa results were also a bit underwhelming, which helped corn futures extend a rally, taking December above the $5 level for the first time since May.

December corn ended 5 1/2 cents higher at $5.03 1/2.
November soybeans lost 3/4 of a cent after hitting a three-week high. Soybean pod counts were also mostly down relative to last year but remained above the three-year average, leaving the crop with potential if weather cooperates over the next few weeks.
September soft red winter wheat rose 2 1/2 cents to $6.82 3/4.
December cotton lost a point to 88.34 cents.
October live cattle rose 77.5 cents to $218, while September feeder cattle lost 20 cents to $329.925.
October lean-hot futures fell $1.275 to $80.225.

See After the Bell for a full rundown of Thursday’s price action.

Pro Farmer Economist Lane Akre, leader of the eastern leg of the Tour, updates on X as he follows his route through northern Iowa into Minnesota:

The sampling process for the Pro Farmer Crop Tour is no secret. You can use it to sample your own fields. Here’s how it’s done:

Corn

In each corn field, walk past the end rows and then take 25 paces into the field:

• At the 35th pace, lay out a 30’ plot and count all the ears that will make grain on two 30" rows.
• From one of those rows, pull the fifth, eighth and 11th ears. This ensures a consistently random sampling process.
• Measure the length of grain (in inches, rounded to the nearest ¼”) on each ear.
• Count the number of kernel rows around each ear.
• Record the row width in the field.
• To calculate the estimated yield, take the average number of ears in the two 30" rows TIMES the average length of grain per ear TIMES the average number of kernel rows around. DIVIDE the total by row width.

Example: (50 ears x 6.5’ x 16.7 kernel rows) / 30’ rows = 180.9.

This example gives you an estimated yield at that spot in the field of 180.9 bu. per acre.

Soybeans

In each soybean field, pick a representative spot:

• Measure a 3’ section in one row and count all the plants in that plot. Randomly select three plants. Count all the pods on those three plants and calculate the average number of pods per plant.
• Multiply the average number of pods per plant by the number of plants in the 3’ plot. Multiply that number by 36, and divide by row width.

Example: (14 plants x 32 pods/plant x 36)/15” rows = 1,075.2 pods in a 3’x3’ square

Compare your results to what we find on Tour and send your finding to editors@profarmer.com.

Karen Braun shares photos and early results of her samples in southern Minnesota.

Clean and green is the description coming from the fields to describe he Minnesota corn crop, a stark contrast to last year’s crop heavily infested with Southern Rust and other diseases.

“We’ve missed that problem this year and that’s a good thing,” Chip Flory, leader of the western leg of the Tour, said on AgriTalk. At the same time, last year’s yields were extremely strong and Minnesota went on to produce a record corn yield. That’s despite having lost bushels to Southern Rust, Flory said. The takeaway is that while this year’s crop appears to be down relative to last year, it may be in position for a better finish to the growing season than was the case in 2025, said data analyst Emily Carolan.

Pro Farmer Economist Lane Akre, leader of the eastern leg of the Tour, tells AgriTalk his route Thursday has found good looking crops north of Cedar Falls, Iowa, as they head toward Rochester, Minn. “This is what has the potential to make up some of the crop on the western side” of Iowa, Akre said, adding that the corn sampled in the area has produced “the biggest yields we’ve found so far this week.”

Soybean pod counts have been “very high,” he said.

A little evidence of nitrogen deficiency but not too bad. Healthy enough to get it through to black layer and add some test weight to it.

Areas of Iowa impacted by drought or abnormal dryness have declined 14.3% since the start of August and USDA’s most recent production forecast. Improvements have mainly been noted in the southwestern and eastern part of the state. Based purely off the drought monitor alone, the eastern leg may find yields more promising than those in the west.

(NOAA/NWS)

The total amount of Minnesota in drought has changed little from August 4, with area impacted by any dryness or drought down less than 1% to 88.2%. However, further analysis shows that the intensity of drought has been increasing. The area in D2-D4 drought is up 10.6% over the last two weeks to 44.9%, with the western portion of the state even seeing a small presence of extreme drought.

(NOAA/NWS)

Zaner Ag Hedge’s Ted Seifried posts about an early stop in Minnesota:

(World Weather Inc.)

Another round of heavy rains dumped rain across previously inundated parts of the eastern Corn Belt Wednesday. Crops need warmer and at least temporary drier weather to support better corn filling and maturation conditions as well as soybean pod filling, said Andrew Owen, meteorologist at World Weather Inc., in a note. Alternating periods of rain and sunshine are on track for much of the Midwest through the middle of next week, he said, with rain expected to be light enough to allow some runoff to continue taking away excess moisture while maintaining enough topsoil moisture to support long-term crop development. But temperatures will be milder than usual, resulting in both slower evaporation and slower crop development. “Warming will be needed,” he wrote.

It’s been one of the wetter crop tours in memory, with scouts dealing with rain, lightning and even hail. Blue Line’s Oliver Sloup captured this — fortunately distant — tornado on Wednesday as his route moved through eastern Iowa:

(Farm Journal)

Soybean pod counts in Illinois and western Iowa on Wednesday were down from last year’s Tour, but above the three-year average. A favorable end to the growing season could produce solid crops.

Soybean potential was the one thing that shined in Illinois’ results, said Pro Farmer Economist and eastern Tour leader Lane Akre during Wednesday’s results presentation. “The potential is there. It’s got the moisture to finish and its got enough pod counts that they might be able to surprise to the upside. We’ll have to see how it finishes out, but the top end of those plans really could prove to be pretty robust and throw some more pods that maybe we haven’t got the last couple of years.”

Illinois saw an average pod count of 1,430.37 in a 3’X3' square, down 3.3% from 2025 but up 2.9% from the three-year average. USDA last week projected the average Illinois soybean yield at 67 bushels per acre, up 7.2% from 62.5 bushels last year.

Chip Flory, leader of the Tour’s western leg, noted that pod counts in western Iowa, while down from last year, were solidly above the three-year averages. In District 1, the count was 6.6% above the average, while District 4 was 1.9% above and District 7 was 14% above. “That’s a good bean crop with a lot of potential in western Iowa,”

of Wednesday’s Tour stops. “And it has moisture to finish filling pods. Give it the right amount of rain and extend the pod-fill period by a few days and this bean crop in western Iowa could be a really good bean crop.”

At 6:00 a.m. CDT, December corn was up 4 1/2 cents and had hit a three-month high.

• November soybeans were 4 1/4 cents higher and had hit a three-week high.
• September soybean meal was up $2.00 and had hit a three-week high.
• September bean oil was 49 points higher.
• September SRW wheat was up 6 1/4 cents and September HRW wheat prices were up 5 1/2 cents, with both markets hitting three-week highs.

Check out this morning’s First Thing Today for a full rundown of market-moving news from overnight.

Corn yields largely across the Tour states so far have failed to impress. Illinois on Wednesday produced an average of 184.19 bushels per acre, down 7.7% from 2025 and 7.5% below the three-year average. USDA last week forecast the yield to fall 0.9% from 2025 to 212 bushels per acre. Pro Farmer Economist Lane Akre, who is leading the eastern leg of the Tour, noted during Wednesday night’s results presentation that the state’s Tour yield was the lowest since 2019. It comes after corn yields in Ohio and Indiana fell from last year’s Tour levels in contrast to USDA expectations as of Aug. 1 for larger yields in both states. The weak showing for the eastern Corn Belt has been a surprise — and a disappointment to expectations the region would make up for drought-stressed corn in the western Corn Belt.

In the west, scouts on Wednesday surveyed three crop districts in western Iowa, finding corn yields and soybean pod counts down from last year but up from the three-year average. Scouts will complete a look at the rest of Iowa on Thursday. Those initial results mean “we need to do a lot of heavy lifting in the center part of the state and the eastern part of the state. And that’s what the expectations are,” said Chip Flory, who is leading the western leg of the Tour. USDA forecast Iowa’s average corn yield to rise to 216 bushels per acre this year from 210 bushels last yer.