Pro Farmer Midwest Crop Tour Underway

The Pro Farmer Midwest Crop Tour is getting underway. The US Department of Agriculture's latest crop estimate has set the stage for this year's crop tour. USDA forecasting the US will produce a corn crop averaging 123.4 bushels per acre and a soybean crop averaging 36.1 bushels per acre. Pro Farmer Editor Chip Flory says those devastatingly low numbers will curtail demand.

Over the next four days more than 100 scouts will survey corn and soybean fields every 15 to 20 miles across seven states - representing 70 percent of the corn and soybean production in the US.

Then on Friday August 24th Pro Farmer will release it's crop estimates at 2pm CT.

This marks the 20th year of the midwest crop tour. In past years crop scouts have battled mud and water,but they have also seen extreme drought. Flory says the best comparison is the drought of 1988, when a the crop tour run by various organizations.

Though a lot has changed since 1988 when there was only 18 scouts. This year over 100 scouts that will record more than 2 - thousand corn and soybean samples in four days across seven states - Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, Ohio, and South Dakota.

The Rural Radio Network will have coverage in-depth cover of the Pro Farmer Crop Tour. RRN Farm Broadcaster Leslie Smith is covering the western leg of tour.

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