After much anticipation, here are the results of our 2020 *modified* crop tour. But first, we would like to thank our friends at Sun Ag for their help in completing this tour this year as we did so under some unusual circumstances.

Using our standard 90,000 kernel per bushel equation to figure yields, our 2020 crop tour had an estimated 184.1 bushel yield per acre.

The tour average of rows was 16.23, down from the last 5 years’ averages of 16.42. With a reduced population, the average ear length (33.61) was higher than the rolling 5-year average of 33.51.

Populations have been talked about over the course of the growing season as a potential limiting factor to this crop size, and the 30.38 tour average was the lowest of the last 5 years. The highest-yielding tours, Tremont North and South, even had lower populations (31.35 each) than the 5-year average of 31.59. However, the average rows and lengths of those two tours ended up being comparable to the 5-year averages of 16.4 and 33.5.

Most ears sampled showed relatively large kernels. This has led us to favor a kernel count closer to 80,000 per bushel, which pushes our tour average to 207.1. Last year’s tour estimated 82,000 kernels per bushel for an adjusted yield of 209.6.

Some of our friends at Advance Trading, Inc in Bloomington, IL have used our data to approximate Illinois state and Tazewell county yield estimates over the past few years, and using the 90,000 kernel count they have projections of 179 for the state and 197 for the county. However, using the 80,000 kernel count that we are favoring would produce a state yield of 196 and a county yield of 222. Their model last year had projections for Tazewell county at 206 versus actual NASS data of 205.6 using 90,000 kernels.

Looking at ear development, this crop is about two weeks away from full maturity, at it looks likes we should be on pace for a mid-September harvest.