About Pro Farmer Crop Tour

2024 Crop Tour Schedule  |  Frequently Asked Questions.   

The Pro Farmer Crop Tour’s primary goal is to provide the industry with accurate growing season information about likely corn and soybean yields at the state and regional levels during the upcoming harvest season.

Crop Tour's data-gathering methods are disciplined and produce consistent results. Results from the Tour have a big impact on Pro Farmer Newsletter’s annual crop production estimate released at week’s end. But observations gathered during the Tour can be just as important as the data itself.

“We pull enough samples to provide us with accurate data for a large geographic area. The Pro Farmer Crop Tour does not attempt to predict actual yields for individual fields or even a county, but we do want to have a good handle on likely yields for each of the seven states we survey,” says Pro Farmer Editor Brian Grete.

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Warm, dry September outlook for northwest Corn Belt, wet for eastern Belt

The 30- and 90-day forecast maps maintain concerns about drought-stressed crops in the northwest Corn Belt but they signal crops in the eastern Belt should have the moisture needed to finish strong.

From the Rows | Aug. 18, 2021 — Chip Flory & Bruce Blythe (West)
From the Rows | Aug. 18, 2021 — Chip Flory & Bruce Blythe (West)

Crop Tour Day 3 results show strong corn yield prospects for southwest Iowa.

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From the Data Bunker | Aug. 18, 2021 (Emily Carolan)

Surprise, surprise: Illinois Crop Tour numbers raise questions over outsized yield expectations.

2021 Crop Tour results: Illinois
2021 Crop Tour results: Illinois

Scouts measured average corn yield potential of 196.30 bu. per acre for Illinois. Pod counts in a 3’x3’ square averaged 1,279.79.

2021 Crop Tour results: Western Iowa
2021 Crop Tour results: Western Iowa

Full results for the state will be released tomorrow.