Category: Crop Tours

2021 CROP TOUR

Posted on | by Jim Goss

2021 Crop Tour to begin June 21
The 2021 Crop Tour begins on June 21 in Champaign Illinois. We needed to cut one day out of our tour this year , but will still travel some 1,600 miles West and North through parts of Illinois, Iowa and Minnesota, in 3 days. There are 21 predetermined stops along the way with 9 in Illinois, 10 in Iowa and 3 in Minnesota. Many of these fields are annual stops so we can compare the corn crop versus our last stop in 2020.

This year’s tour stats are as follows. We will be in 21 counties with 8 of those stops being in a County with a Top 5 three year average corn yield for their respective State. Five of these stops will be in counties that are in the lowest 25% of their respective State for three year average corn yield. The number one county is Crawford County Iowa (Western Iowa). The lowest average corn yield on the tour is Jackson County Minnesota (Southwestern MN).

As I write today 3 days before the start, Knox County Illinois has the largest amount of rain year to date (19.59″) and largest amount since April 10 (10.95″). Hardin County Iowa has the least rain year to date at only 8.54 inches and Marshall County Iowa has the least since April 10 at 3.56 inches. The rain stats project extreme dryness across the majority of the three states we will travel. We will be interested to see if it has had an effect on the crop yet.

As always we appreciate your comments. Follow us on our many social networks on my YouTube channel (James Goss) for video’s, or on Twitter (@jegoss13) for Tweets, Snapchat (farmerted 82), Instagram (goss_j) or Facebook (James E. Goss). Hard to say how many of these will be always active but this blog, Youtube and Twitter will be the most active for both of us.

2020 CROP TOUR

Posted on | by Jim Goss

The 2020 Crop Tour began on June 23 in Champaign Illinois. We traveled some 1,800 miles West and North through parts of Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Western Indiana in 4 days. There are 25 predetermined stops along the way with 9 in Illinois, 11 in Iowa, 3 in Minnesota and 2 in Western Indiana. Many of these fields are annual stops so we can compare the corn crop versus our last stop in 2018.

This year’s tour stats are as follows. We traveled 25 counties with 9 of those stops being in a County with a Top 5 three year average corn yield for their respective State. Five of these stops were counties that are in the lowest 25% of their respective State for three year average corn yield. The number one county is Crawford County Iowa (Western Iowa) with a three year average corn yield of 223.53 bushels per acre. The lowest average corn yield on the tour is Jackson County Minnesota (Southwestern MN) at 176.47 bushels per acre.

1 week before the start, Champaign Illinois has the largest amount of rain year to date (24.08″) and largest amount since April 10 (11.78″). Plymouth Iowa has the least year to date at only 9.48 inches and Cass Iowa has the least since April 10 at 3.97 inches. Clearly Western Iowa has been extremely dry. We will be interested to see if it has had an effect on the crop yet.

2020 Western Cornbelt Crop Tour

Posted on | by Jim Goss

2020 Crop Tour to begin June 23
The 2020 Crop Tour begins on June 23 in Champaign Illinois. We will travel some 1,800 miles West and North through parts of Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Western Indiana in 4 days. There are 25 predetermined stops along the way with 9 in Illinois, 11 in Iowa, 3 in Minnesota and 2 in Western Indiana. Many of these fields are annual stops so we can compare the corn crop versus our last stop in 2018.

This year’s tour stats are as follows. We will be in 25 counties with 9 of those stops being in a County with a Top 5 three year average corn yield for their respective State. Five of these stops will be in counties that are in the lowest 25% of their respective State for three year average corn yield. The number one county is Crawford County Iowa (Western Iowa) with a three year average corn yield of 223.53 bushels per acre. The lowest average corn yield on the tour is Jackson County Minnesota (Southwestern MN) at 176.47 bushels per acre.

As I write today 1 week before the start, Champaign Illinois has the largest amount of rain year to date (24.08″) and largest amount since April 10 (11.78″). Plymouth Iowa has the least year to date at only 9.48 inches and Cass Iowa has the least since April 10 at 3.97 inches. Clearly Western Iowa has been extremely dry. We will be interested to see if it has had an effect on the crop yet.

As always we appreciate your comments. Follow us on our many social networks on my YouTube channel (James Goss) for video’s, or on Twitter (@jegoss13) for Tweets, Snapchat (farmerted 82), Instagram (goss_j) or Facebook (James E. Goss). Hard to say how many of these will be always active but this blog, Youtube and Twitter will be the most active for both of us.

Corn being harvested by farm equipment

2017 Crop tour wrap up

Posted on | by Jim Goss

Here are my final thoughts from this year’s tour.  It was copied from the blog so no new insights since 7-3.

1.  Indiana has little chance to be average.  Warren and Benton Counties are typically two of the best counties in the State.  We traveled both and found, replanted fields, low plant stands (in fields that were left), and overall water damage.  The area had a TOUGH spring that will certainly continue into summer and make fall a mess.

2.  Illinois and Iowa both have areas that need rain BEFORE pollination.  We drove 1670 miles and found several counties that need a drink before we get to pollination.  Typical of every year but prevalent this year are large areas of dry soils.  A big part of Central Illinois and NW Iowa need a drink soon.

3.  75% of Iowa has more than adequate moisture.  We found the NE quadrant with enough moisture to make it all the way through pollination.  Northern Illinois certainly has enough moisture as well.

4.  Minnesota has the best corn crop we have seen in the 5 years we have visited.  BIG plant stands (both were slightly over 40,000 ppa) and plenty of moisture.  I tweeted out pictures of the mud on my shoes after being in those fields.

5.  Iowa farms all look like they were planted in the same week.  Never have we seen so little variability.  V7-V10 caught every field (the the average being V10).  What this means is watch the heat in Iowa July 10-24.  I believe 85% of Iowa will pollinate in that time frame.

6.  Iowa farmers have embraced high plant stands.  We found that 36,000 was a low plant stand in Iowa.  Seed dealers must have cut some deals or somehow convinced everyone in the state to plant thicker.

7.  Illinois will be average.  Southern IL is behind and doesn’t typically change the overall state yield unless they are great.  Central Illinois is good but spotty.  East Central IL had one of the biggest replant years ever for corn.  Northern Illinois looks typical (though a little behind normal crop progress).

8.  Overall there are certainly enough acres to justify the USDA June 30 report.  I would call the crop 10 days behind normal overall.  Mid-July weather will be critical for heat especially.  If we remain cool, I expect this crop to be average overall.  All bets are off if it gets hot.

9.  One comment on soybeans.  They are small; I get it.  Even the early planted soybeans look smaller than we would expect for this time of year.  However soybeans have an incredible ability to make up for lack of height or maturity.  I would suggest that with an additional 6 million acres we have little chance to hit the trend line yield; it doesn’t matter.  There are so many acres that total production is a BIG number that could be problematic on the World supply demand sheets.

10.  Thanks to everyone who followed along and tweeted/messaged at us.  It is a grind to see that many fields in so many miles.  WE appreciate all of the encouragement and hope that you all found something interesting in our reports.

Dry cornstalks ready for harvest

2017 Crop Tour

Posted on | by Jim Goss

Follow along as we tour Western Indiana, Illinois, Southern Minnesota and Iowa to assess the potential of this year’s crops (1650 plus miles in 3 days). This will be our 4th tour.  We went the first time in 2011, then again in 2012, took 2013, 2014 and 2015 off, they resumed in 2016 and now in 2017.  Many of the fields we have been in multiple times so we have some history.  Each year we add a few and subtract one or two.

The idea has always been to get a pre-fourth of July look at the crops to help with marketing the balance of the summer.  Along the way, I feel like we always pick up a new item or two to add to our knowledge base.

Use the link below to follow our 3 day tour.  We post twice a day in video form and two to three times a day in written form our results.  Check it out and let me know your thoughts.

http://agfarmmgmt.blogspot.com/