2015 US Corn Belt Crop Tour: Wisconsin

Jul 20, 2015

Eleventh state in a 12-state tour

The 4^th annual Farms.com US Corn Belt Crop Tour is continuing to make its way through the American Midwest, visiting some states along the way that, for better or worse, could impact the national yield and commodity prices going forward.

Led by Farms.com Risk Management’s Chief Commodity Strategist Moe Agostino, the team began the tour in Ohio and traveled through Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, South Dakota, North Dakota, Minnesota and Iowa.

The second-last state to be visited during the 12-state tour was Wisconsin.

“I’m not seeing any disease, weed or moisture pressure so far,” Agostino said standing in front of a corn field. “We’ve got chest to head high corn. It may be a little bit behind but we’ve got lots of heat.”

As the tour got closer to Black River Falls, Wisconsin, some pressures started to appear.

“We’re starting to see a little bit of moisture stress,” said Agostino. “But not what we’ve seen in some of the other states.”

From Black River Falls, the tour traveled near Beloit, Wisconsin where some corn crops appeared to be behind.

“Very little tasseled corn in Wisconsin,” Agostino said. “We do see some ears forming.”

Overall, Wisconsin seems to be performing well, but because it isn’t a large producing state, it may not have a large impact going forward.

“Wisconsin looks good compared to most other states,” Agostino said. “Unfortunately it doesn’t rank high in terms of corn and soybean production and doesn’t really rank at all when it comes to wheat production. I’m not sure it’s really going to add to the national yield.”

Be sure to follow the Corn Belt Crop Tour on Twitter using the hashtag #CornBelt15.

Michigan will be the next and last state visited on the tour.

Video: Did Bears Win Thanksgiving, Will Bulls Get Christmas?

Did the bears win Thanksgiving (although this week had green on the screen), and will the bulls get Christmas? Bears won thanksgiving thanks to a USDA Nov crop report dud that stalled the bullish grain momentum for a brief period. But a bullish lower yield surprise in the Dec crop report could reignite the rally.
2026 U.S. winter wheat planting is nearly complete at 97% while crop conditions improved by 3 points to 48% good-to-excellent. US corn & soybean harvest is complete.
High corn demand, which is off the chart, and more Chinese soybean demand could support a Christmas rally.
Nasdaq had it’s worst November since 2011.
A U.S. Fed rate cut in December will help fund flow and sentiment.
Bitcoin held a long-term support at 80,000 and that's positive for fund flow and sentiment. It should help stock prices and Ag as we go into December.
Fertilizer prices continue to climb as we look ahead to 2026. Farmers may rely more on the nutrients that they already have in their soils.
South American Weather remains critical as the soybean reproductive stage starts from late Nov to late Feb depending on planting date.
Will a Russia-Ukraine peace deal happen by year-end?
CFTC data as of showed more managed money fund sell-off as of October 14th.