Tightening the Corn Belt – Pro Farmer Crop Tour

 It’s corn! I can tell you all about it 

While this young corn enthusiast from TikTok may know a thing or two about corn, The Pro Farmer Crop Tour is in its 30th year of collecting corn and soybean crop estimates from across the Corn Belt.

Supported by a team of over 100 crop scouts, the tour has observed and sampled over 3K fields to get an accurate estimate of this year’s crop. You know, just a data point or two…

The best and the West: Tough growing conditions in the Western Corn Belt have the corn crop sweating. Drought, heat waves, and hail have all taken their toll.

You can find the full report with corn estimates here.

Soundbite: “The question heading into Crop Tour was whether there would be enough bushels in the eastern Corn Belt to offset the bushels lost in the drier western areas,” said Brian Grete, Pro Farmer editor.

“After Crop Tour, the answer is: Clearly, there won’t be enough in the east to offset the west, not nearly enough,” he said.

Big picture: Besides Minnesota, all states on the tour saw their 2022 estimates drop or stay the same from 2021.

And according to Grete, there still won’t be enough bushels coming out of the eastern Corn Belt to make up for the poor production in the drought-stricken western states.