Gro/DTN Digital Yield Tour Kicks Off in Key US Farm States

Recent rains lifted South Dakota corn prospects dramatically since late June, and Nebraska is projected to be headed for record yields.  

Those are some of the findings as the DTN/Gro Digital Yield Tour 2020 kicks off on Aug. 10. The weeklong tour will assess conditions and yield in key growing areas across the US Midwest prior to this year’s harvest. It’s the third year for the Digital Yield Tour, which is powered by Gro's real-time yield maps—generated with satellite imagery—rainfall data, temperature maps, and other public data. DTN brings the deep knowledge of its award-winning editorial staff, who discuss state-by-state averages and historical yields, plus weather challenges and pest pressures. At the end of the tour, the team presents a national overview. 

Check out Gro’s toolkit for the Digital Yield Tour, which collects the Gro displays used in the tour along with related crop monitors that provide daily updates on growing conditions and yield impact throughout the growing season. Sign up for a free Gro account to receive daily updates on the tour and get access to our full suite of crop monitors for the US. 

The tour which starts in the West, focuses on Nebraska, South Dakota, and North Dakota on Aug. 10. On Tuesday, Aug. 11, the tour explores yield estimates from Kansas and Missouri. On Aug. 12, we move into Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Iowa before heading east into Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio for our final stops on Aug. 13. A look at our national reading is to be released on Friday, Aug. 14. 

Readers should note that the Gro yield visuals are continually updated, while the DTN feature articles are based on the yield estimates at the time the articles were written. Numbers quoted in the articles may be different than those on the Gro website depending on when viewed.

Among other findings from the Digital Yield Tour’s first day, Gro forecasts South Dakota corn yield at 174.43 bushels per acre (bpa), a sharp jump from last year’s 144 bpa USDA final. Eastern South Dakota is currently faring much better than the West with yields ranging between 180 to 200-plus bpa. Soy yields for the state are also estimated higher, at 49.2 bpa. 

Nebraska is projected to be heading for record high yields in both corn, at 195.27 bpa, and soy, at 63.17 bpa, with recent rains providing the lift. Corn yields vary widely across the state, ranging from 195-210 bpa in the irrigated East, and 135-184 bpa in the more arid West. 

While prevent-plant acreage forecasts are nowhere close to last year’s disastrous tally, area lost to prevent plant in some states is still running above normal. North Dakota is projected to have the highest prevent-plant area at 937,000 acres, most of that in corn.  

Knowing yields is always important, but this year’s yield discovery is even more so amid a heightened export environment. Record high corn and soybean sales were announced in July. But that bullish price signal has been offset by expected high yields, and prices currently on the CBOT are currently about level with late June prices. Stay tuned to find out if forecasts are setting the scene for bin-busting yields this fall, or if declines in supply warrant higher prices.  

This insight was powered by the Gro platform, which enables better and faster decisions about factors affecting the entire global agricultural ecosystem. Gro organizes over 40,000 datasets from sources around the world into a unified ontology, which allows users to derive valuable insights such as this one. You can explore the data available on Gro with a free account, or please get in touch if you would like to learn more about a specific crop, region, or business issue.