Consistent randomness and investigative reporting are two themes that come from the Pro Farmer Crop Tour every August.
But what’s the significance of the data to the markets? Is it accurate? And how should the data be used in grain marketing decisions?
That’s the focus of this week’s episode of the grain marketing podcast, Grain IQ.
See Nebraska’s final results here.
The tour has become an industry event that analysts, agronomists, farmers and more closely watch for real-time insights on crop conditions in seven states: Nebraska, South Dakota, Iowa, Minnesota, Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio.
Chip Flory with Pro Farmer leads the Western Leg of the tour each year. He said their team of scouts has the same route during the same week with the same calculation methods to gather realistic data about the crop year after year.
In addition to consistent randomness, Flory said the tour serves as an investigative report to level the playing field for farmers with access to data.
“There have been years when the crop tour has deviated significantly from what USDA has showed us,” he said.
Flory joins us to elaborate on the tour and its significance to grain marketing.
Grain IQ is a production of the Nebraska Rural Radio Association, in cooperation and with support from the Nebraska Soybean Board.
