A Tale of Two Days

Yesterday on the first day of the crop tour, I was pleasantly surprised by the South Dakota corn and soybean crop.  However, the corn crop in NE Nebraska on our route was at best average (in my opinion), but most everyone else indicated it was above average.

Today’s route found us heading south out of Grand Island, Nebraska and going essentially due east to Beatrice, Nebraska.  We took 10 samples before lunch and had at least 4 samples in the 200-225 range.  The crops looked good and soybeans were in good shape too.  Based on our samples, we thought that SE Nebraska would be in excellent shape, but it just goes to show that one route does not make a crop tour.  The other routes consistently had numbers lower than us and the final crop tour numbers came in at 165 which is slightly higher than last years 164.  USDA had a final 2014 Nebraska corn crop of 179 and are projecting 187 for this year.  Based on the Pro Farmer numbers, this may be a bit high, however, there is plenty of corn there and weather can certainly help get it to the finish line.

Soybeans count this year for a 3’X3′ square was about 1,220 up about 12% from last year’s 1,103.  With the rain we got today (almost 4″ in Omaha) you would think the bean crop should be very good.

Tomorrow will take us in Western Iowa and will give you an update tomorrow night.

Paul Neiffer, CPA