We’re going out into the field for a status update on the finishing corn and soybean crops as the Pro Farmer Crop Tour kicks off today. Mike Berdo, Washington County farmer and longtime crop tour scout, said one of the things that he enjoys is that each year he gets a different route.
“I am a driver, and we get our Rand McNally Atlas with the highlighted route,” Berdo said. “Just follow the highlighted route and it takes you through town by town, and then end up at the hotel that night. Take usually 15 to 20 samples a day, about two per county and then up at the hotel that night we have the nightly meeting and then do it all over the next day.”
As far as his expectations for this year, Berdo said the tour is “consistently random.”
“I personally go into it with an open mind,” Berdo said. “I really have no clue what I’m going to see. I just go into the corn or bean field with an open mind, and what we find is what we find. There’s kind of an old saying on club tour – it’s consistently random. Honestly, we’ve never been in the same field. You might recognize the same town year to year and say to yourself, ‘Oh yeah, I went through this town in Indiana last year. I know kind of where we are.’ But I guarantee you it’s never the same field year to year. Just have an open mind. And that’s why I tell everybody that’s riding in my vehicle that I have no idea what we’re going to get into.”
The crop tour consists of two separate parts – the Eastern leg that Mike is on and the Western leg. Both will meet in southern Minnesota on Thursday night before the final Pro Farmer Yield Predictions are released Friday afternoon.
