Preliminary Route Report with Brent Judisch, western Tour consultant
What counties (with state and district) have you sampled from?
Iowa: District 8—Martin, Watonwan, Faribault, Freeborn
Corn yield range: 109 to 219 bu. per acre
Corn yield average: 168 bu. per acre
Soybean pod count range in 3’x3’ square: 72 to 1,320
Soybean pod count average in 3’x3’ square: 797
Please share a few (one to three) comments from your route:
I was really disappointed throughout my route today. We saw a lot of immature corn, a lot in the blister stage and we covered around 150 miles. There have been a couple of good samples, but they’re way down from average yields--only had one sample yield over 200. Soybeans have also been disappointing. Most are still flowering, and by my estimation, are about 45 days behind. Corn and beans are both very short, due to so much rain and cool conditions. I knew there would be issues, but I thought the area was much smaller.
Preliminary Route Report with Brian Grete, eastern Tour leader
What counties (with state and district) have you sampled from?
Iowa: Districts 6 & 3—Linn, Delaware, Fayette, Clayton
Corn yield range: 145 to 255 bu. per acre
Corn yield average: 202 bu. per acre
Soybean pod count range in 3’x3’ square: 742 to 2,089
Soybean pod count average in 3’x3’ square: 1,595
Please share a few (one to three) comments from your route:
Quite a bit of variability in corn, but overall yield is pretty good. The maturity decreased as we travelled north. Low yields have been continuously offset by high ones. Soybeans were heavily podded, with moisture levels mostly adequate across our route today.
Preliminary Route Report with Chip Flory, western Tour leader
What counties (with state and district) have you sampled from?
Iowa: Districts 8 & 9—LeSuer, Rice, Goodhue
Corn yield range: 87 to 202
Corn yield average: 141
Soybean pod count range in 3’x3’ square: 288 to 1108
Soybean pod count average in 3’x3’ square: 798
Please share a few comments from your route: I’m unimpressed that’s for sure.
This corn crop up here is out of gas. The color is not good; light green to yellow. There’s some disease but the main issue is, it’s low on nitrogen--I think the fall applied fields are really hurting. It’s also slow to develop—milk to early dent. I’m not too concerned about the fields that are in the dough or early dent stage, but if it’s in the milk stage, it’s going to need every good thing going for it over the next few weeks. Soybeans are also showing slow development; very behind. A lot of pod filling left which made for low pod count, which is very concerning.
Preliminary Route Report with Mark Bernard, eastern Tour consultant
What counties (with state and district) have you sampled from?
Iowa: Districts: 2—Floyd and Mitchell / Minnesota, District 9—Mower and Dodge
Corn yield range: Iowa-- 153 to 206 / Minnesota—165 to 220
Corn yield average: Iowa 188 / Minnesota 190
Soybean pod count range in 3’x3’ square: Iowa: 1,186 to 1,590 / Minnesota 638 to 1,771
Soybean pod count average in 3’x3’ square: Iowa: 1,363 / Minnesota: 1,203
Please share a few comments from your route:
Corn, generally speaking, was very healthy, and had no evidence of any disease. We did run into a field that had been hailed on in Mower County, but had a respectable yield at over 200 bu. The crop still needs time to finish, with many samples in dough stage or early dough stage. The crop will need favorable weather into September to push it across the finish line. Soybeans had no disease whatsoever, however, there were a few soybean aphids, but the maturity of the crop in general should help with the aphids. It won’t be too much longer until aphids migrate back to buckthorn, so that should help. Overall, it’s a pretty darn good soybean crop given the spring and growing season that we’ve had. Likely won’t be record yields, but not a total disaster either.