The Pro Farmer Crop Tour is putting boots in the field across the Corn Belt — and what scouts find can influence how traders view this year’s crop.

For this week’s Fridays in the Field, Chad Moyer catches up with Tim Gregerson of Herman, Nebraska, who has participated in the Pro Farmer Crop Tour for 26 years. Gregerson explains how the tour collects its samples, what he’s seeing in Nebraska corn and soybeans, and how heat, drought, tip-back, pollination issues and insect pressure are showing up in the fields.

Gregerson also takes us through a corn sample near Ceresco, including how the tour calculates potential yield from ear counts and kernel length.

Back home near Herman, Gregerson says good plant populations have been offset by fewer viable ears, heat stress and dry conditions — pointing toward below-average dryland corn yields in his area.