Day 9: July 5, 2020
9th Annual US Corn Belt Crop Tour Summary of the State of South Dakota
The 2020 9th Annual U.S. Corn Belt Crop tour route in the state of Kansas started in Rapid City to Pierre to north of Aberdeen on July 5th, 2020. We also toured the state on July 9th, 2020 near Sioux Falls, SD. July 5th was a very hot day 100F with clouds and sunshine while July 9, 2020 was 84, cloudy and sunny as well. We travelled from Rapids City, SD east to Pierre, SD and North east into Ashley, ND. The same theme across all states thus far on tour played out in South Dakota with a mid May cold snap and too much moisture placing the 2020 panting season behind by 1-2 weeks. South Dakota is too wet as crops are stressing under too much moisture especially from centre North from Pierre, SD up to Aberdeen was very wet but “rain makes grain.” North East SD near Sioux Falls was looking good and much better than last year.
We visited with a Farmer named Craig Blindert in McCook County South Dakota and in 2019 this county had 41% of acres go prevent plant. What a difference a year makes with both corn and soybeans looking like above average crops. The record corn yield in South Dakota was 161 in 2016 vs. 144 last year while soybeans also hit a record in 2016 at 49.5 vs. 19 at 42.5 bpa. There were some abandoned or failed cares in the state but not quite as many as last year as farmers planted 24% more corn, 49% more soybeans and winter wheat acres are down 24% while spring wheat up 33%. Crops are not stressing from excessive heat nor disease, but some acres are too wet with plenty of top and subsoil moisture. We rate the state a 7.5 out of 10 with ideal growing conditions with daytime temps at 80+ and night time temps at 60.
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