From the Rows – Western Leg
Day 1
Brent Judish
Day 1 of the 2024 Pro Farmer Crop Tour is in the books. This morning started out cool and wet and stayed in the lower 80’s all day. A much better start than the 100 heat indexes we sampled in last year. Our 10 routes led us today from Sioux Falls SD to Grand Island NE. Most of the morning was spent in the 20 most Southeast Counties of South Dakota. As we finish South Dakota we move into the Northeast area of Nebraska and work our way to Grand Island.
In South Dakota we scouted crop districts 5, 6, and 9. The routes that went West of Sioux Falls in crop district 6 towards Mitchell saw very good corn and soybean samples as they moved west. The routes that headed south of Sioux Falls towards Yankton in crop district 9 were much improved from last year’s extreme drought conditions. We did encounter field after field of drowned-out areas from the excessive rainfall this area had in the earlier parts of the growing season. Some of the ponded areas had been replanted, but the crop in these areas are going to have a hard time getting mature if any kind of normal frost date happens.
My 6 corn samples in South Dakota averaged 169 BPA with a high of 193 and a low of 134. This estimate was 10 bushels above the 2023 crop tour estimate. Our soybean samples averaged 1026 pods in a 3x3 square, with a high of 1608 and a low of 562. This was almost identical to our 2023 samples of 1032.
As we moved into Nebraska we sampled in crop districts 3 and 6. Our route started at York, and passed thru Norfolk, west thru Albion, south to Central City and then into Grand Island. We took 17 samples along our route, 12 were irrigated and 5 were dryland. Our corn samples averaged 184.6 BPA, with a high of 231 and a low of 134. This estimate was 10 bpa higher than the 2023 samples for the same district. The extra yield was made up mainly by the average kernels around the ear. The dryland corn samples were much higher than our 2023 samples, as this area has had considerably more rain in 2024 than 2023.
Our 17 Soybean samples averaged 1231 pods in a 3x3 square, with a high of a whopping 3294 pods, and a low of 432. The irrigated soybeans should finish strong, and the dryland fields have adequate moisture currently, especially with the temperature forecast for this week.
Tomorrow we move into Southeast Nebraska. The morning samples will be mostly irrigated, but the afternoon will be mostly dry land. It will be interesting to see how the dryland fields are holding up with the areas south of Lincoln having missed some of the recent rains.