Day 3 – Pro Farmer Crop Tour
After two days trekking through the corn and soybean fields of South Dakota and Nebraska, it was time for the western leg of the Pro Farmer Crop Tour to head east, across the Missouri River into Iowa. Hamburg, Iowa – in Fremont County, tucked into the far southwestern corner of the state – served as the jumping-off point on a day that suggested a big leap in the corn crop’s yield potential.
Just outside Hamburg, my scout team surveyed two corn fields that turned out to be a prelude to what many other stops in southwest Iowa revealed: One field generated an average yield estimate of 190.1 bu./acre, the other 204 bu./acre.
As we worked our way north, through Mills and Pottawattamie counties (which, like Fremont, are part of Iowa’s Crop District 7) and Shelby counties (District 4), we found several more fields that projected yields in the low-200s, or mid-180s at the low end. Other scout teams today had similar numbers. By the end of the day, we calculated average District 4 and District 7 yields of 201.1 bu./acre and 192.5 bu./acre, respectively.
Field after field, corn stands in Districts 4 and 7 were impressively robust and uniform, in terms of ear counts (low 100s), grain length (slightly over 7 inches, on average) and kernel rows (16.2-16.7).
Soils were dry on the surface, but the crop’s overall apparent health indicated that this part of Iowa got the rain it needed, when it needed it. Veteran Crop Tour scout Roger Cerven said at the end-of-day meeting in Spencer, Iowa, “We’re going to find out how much corn we can raise on 8 inches of rain.” And, from what I saw, today’s stops may have been the best corn I’ve seen so far this week, in contrast to the dryness-stressed crops in South Dakota and dryland Nebraska.
As we worked our way into northwest Iowa, sampling Crawford and Ida counties (both District 4), our estimated corn yields remained strong, with one topping 256 bu./acre. But one field in O’Brien County (District 1) checked in at just 147.6 bu./acre – hinting at a dryness/drought drop-off similar to what we saw in South Dakota.
Soybean fields we surveyed in Districts 4 and 7 were decent-to-good, but not nearly as impressive as the corn. Pod counts (in a 3-foot by 3-foot square) averaged 1,225 in District 4, up 4.1% from our 2020 pod counts; for District 7, pod counts averaged 1,368, up nearly 18%.
Chip here... data manager Emily Carolan and I deadheaded to the northwest corner of Iowa to pull a few samples and to collect the data from the eastern leg of the Tour as scouts wrapped up in Illinois.
Sioux and Lyon Counties didn’t show much of the drought stress that growers have talked about in the northwest part of the state, but there were some issues with the corn crop. The first stop in Sioux Co., generated a calculated yield of 192 bu. per acre, but there was significant corn rootworm damage and it will be difficult to get that yield potential in the bin.
That put us “on alert” for rootworm damage and we saw more examples as we made our way through the counties of Iowa’s Crop District 1. When all scouts wrapped up the day in northwest Iowa, we generated an average calculated corn yield of 182.84 bu. per acre, up 0.9% from year-ago, but down 0.8% from the 3-year average. That makes it an “ordinary” corn crop for northwest Iowa.
Maturity of the corn crop was behind western Tour areas of South Dakota and throughout Nebraska. Ears were late-dough to early dent, which means the corn crop could still benefit from some late-season rains. Without those rains, the corn crop in CD 1 of Iowa will slip further below the average.
Beans in CD 1 of Iowa generated an average pod count in 3’X3’ of 1,063.69, up 7.5% from year-ago and 2.4% above the three-year average.
Beans in western Iowa are a “bit messy” compared to what we’ve observed the past few years. Weed escapes are more common and will likely become even more evident as the bean crop reaches maturity. But generally, the bean crop in northwest Iowa showed little disease or insect pressure.
We’re running strong into the final day of the 2021 Pro Farmer Crop Tour – I can’t wait to see my friends from the eastern leg of the Tour when we gather in Rochester for the final event.