(Le Mars) — The U-S Department of Agriculture issued last week its initial crop estimates saying farmers will be producing a record corn crop of 15.2 billion bushels. However, not everyone believes the U-S-D-A estimate is totally accurate. This week, Pro-Farmer publication is holding its annual Midwest Crop Tour where groups of crop scouts examine fields across the cornbelt to determine their estimate as to the size of this year’s crop. Chip Flory is the Editorial Director with Pro-Farmer. He says this is the 24th year for the crop tour. Flory says, so far, on the tour the scouts have determined the Ohio and South Dakota crop size does not match up with the U-S-D-A estimates. However, Flory says Iowa and Illinois hold the key.
Flory was in Nebraska on Tuesday, and he says from his observations, it has been disappointing. Flory says there were very few indications the Cornhusker state would average 200 bushels of corn per acre, even on irrigated ground.
The farm publications editor says the scouting crews try to remain consistent with their field selections from year to year, going on the same 12 routes in the eastern corn belt, and the same ten routes in the western cornbelt, stopping every ten to twenty miles. They enter a field, and go past the end rows, and measure a distance of 35 paces. They then measure a plot the distance of 30 feet, and select the 5th, 8th, and 11th ears of corn, and counting the kernels on each of those ears.
Today, the crop scouts will be in western Iowa and southern Minnesota, and in Illinois and Wisconsin. On Thursday, the two groups will meet in Rochester, Minnesota to compare notes, and on Friday, Pro-Farmer will announce its estimates for the size of this year’s corn crop.
