Live Coverage: Pro Farmer Crop Tour turns spotlight on Illinois and western Iowa
Follow along as scouts assess corn and soybean crops across the Land of Lincoln and the Hawkeye State.
Pro Farmer Crop Scouts move across Illinois and western Iowa Wednesday on the third day of the Pro Farmer Crop Tour. Scouts this week are pulling thousands of corn and soybean samples across seven key states in the first comprehensive, from-the-field look at crop potential this year. Follow reports from the field along with market reaction and expert analysis here.
Day 2 Crop Tour Results from Indiana and Nebraska
Day 1 Crop Tour Results from Ohio and South Dakota
It’s all eyes on ears in western Iowa
The second day of the Crop Tour found an average corn yield in Nebraska at 163.61 bushels per acre, down 8.9% from last year’s Tour yield of 179.5 bushels and a drop of 5.6% from the three-year average. It was the ear count that told the story for a second day, notes Western leg Tour leader Chip Flory in his recap of Day 2.
South Dakota on Tuesday saw a 5.9% drop in ear counts from 2025, while Nebraska was down 5.22%. For Nebraska, the ear count was the lowest since 2013.
The western leg is making its way into western Iowa. “You know what we will be watching most closely — the ear counts,” Flory wrote, noting that lackluster counts have also pulled down yields in Ohio and Indiana as well as South Dakota and Nebraska.