Nebraska Soy, Indiana Corn Show Best Potential in Years, Crop Scouts Say

By Julie Ingwersen

NEBRASKA CITY, Nebraska, Aug 19 (Reuters) – Nebraska’s soybean pod count is the highest in at least 22 years, and its corn yield potential is the strongest in four years, scouts said on Tuesday during the second day of Pro Farmer’s annual tour of major grain-producing states.

In Indiana, corn yield potential is the highest in the tour’s records since at least 2003, though the average soybean pod count in the state is slightly below 2024 levels.

Market players are monitoring the four-day crop tour, which started on Monday and covers seven top U.S. corn and soybean states, for more cues on harvest prospects after the U.S. Department of Agriculture forecast on Aug. 12 a record-large corn crop, depressing Chicago Board of Trade corn Cv1 futures.

Nebraska’s crops benefited from timely rainfall across much of the state. While irrigation is common in parts of Nebraska, the rains have helped to boost growth on dryland fields, which typically produce lower yields than irrigated acres.

“This is probably one of the better crops I’ve seen, mainly because the dryland (acreage) is not bringing the average down,” said Brent Judisch, a farmer from Cedar Falls, Iowa, who is on the western leg of the tour.

The tour, which does not project soybean yields, estimated the average number of soybean pods in a 3-foot-by-3-foot (91cm-by-91cm) square in Nebraska at 1,348.31 pods, above last year’s average of 1,172.48 pods and the highest in tour records through 2003.

Crop scouts projected Nebraska’s average corn yield at 179.50 bushels per acre (bpa), above the 2024 tour average of 173.25 and the highest since the 2021 tour.

For Indiana, scouts projected an average corn yield of 193.82 bpa, the biggest in the tour’s records and an increase from the 2024 estimate of 187.54 bpa.

The tour estimated the average soybean pod count for Indiana at 1,376.59 pods, down from 1,409.02 pods in 2024 but above the three-year average of 1,294.98 pods.

“We see a lot of potential right now, but there is still a lot of this growing season left,” said Lane Akre, an economist on the eastern half of the tour.

Scouts will survey crops in Illinois and western Iowa on Wednesday and the tour wraps up in Rochester, Minnesota, on Thursday.

The editors of Pro Farmer, a newsletter, will release their own estimate of U.S. corn and soybean production on Friday.

(Reporting by Julie Ingwersen in Nebraska City, Nebraska; Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips)