Eleventh state in a 12-state tour
By Diego Flammini
Assistant Editor, North American Content
Farms.com
The Farms.com Risk Management team made its way through Wisconsin as part of the fifth annual U.S. Corn Belt Crop Tour.
Standing in a corn field near Augusta, Wisconsin, Chief Commodity Strategist Moe Agostino is optimistic about the state’s crop.
“It does look good here,” he said. “I think it is ahead of schedule based on past years' observations.
Farmers were able to plant corn before May, but not without their challenges.
“We started mid-April,” said Matt Murray, a farmer from Black River Falls, Wisconsin. “Early May we got hit with hard frost, (which) smoked the corn off but it all came back. I don’t think it did much ear damage but you can see some unevenness.”
Murray confirmed Agostino’s thoughts on Wisconsin being ahead of schedule.
“I’d say we’re about a week ahead as far as tasseling,” he said, adding that a little bit of rain could go a long way.
As far as beans go, the crop appears to be performing well.
“(There’s) a bit of variability and some weed pressure, but overall looks good,” Agostino said.
Agostino ranked Wisconsin between 8 and 8.5 out of 10, in terms of crop conditions and progress.
Follow the Crop Tour as it makes its final stop in Michigan.
Use the hashtag #croptour16 to follow Moe and his team on social media.