Spencer, IA: (Aug 23, 2012) - The Pro Farmer Midwest Crop Tour found a corn crop in northwest Iowa that is projected to yield higher than corn they scouted in Nebraska and South Dakota. But the projected yield of 159.3 for District One in northwest Iowa is still down 10 percent from last year.
 
Tour Leader Chip Flory says good soils and a bit more rain this summer helped the corn crop in northwest Iowa.
 

 
Flory had an opportunity to ride in a combine near Storm Lake that was harvesting corn on Wednesday. He says the corn is testing drier than many think, and the stalk quality is not good.
 

 
Flory says the soybean pod count in northwest Iowa was 971 pods in a three foot by three foot square. That’s down 19 percent from the tour’s three-year average.
 
Brian Grate is the leader of the Eastern leg of the tour. He said the corn in eastern Iowa is highly variable…..a lot like what tour scouts saw in western Illinois.
 

 
With the tour of Illinois corn complete, Grate gives the numbers.
 

The Pro Farmer Midwest Crop tour ends Thursday in Owantana, Minnesota.