Midwest Crop Tour Captures National Attention

CEDAR FALLS, Iowa, Aug. 26, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Professional Farmers of America, a division of Farm Journal Media, today reported its production estimates for the 2011 corn and soybean crops. In a highly varied and difficult crop production year, the Tour saw record attendance at its evening producer meetings—and garnered national and regional media attention, including a substantial article in the Wall Street Journal.

Crop Tour field scouts gathered more than 2,300 corn and soybean samples from across the Midwest. Corn samples showed lower-than-year-ago yield potential in each state and soybean pod counts were up from a year ago only in Ohio. Many people in the industry were hoping to find at least steady-with-year-ago yield potential in western Corn Belt states to help offset lost yield potential in eastern areas such as Indiana.

In the Friday, Aug. 26, edition of the Wall Street Journal (front page of the Money section), the Journal detailed the workings of the Crop Tour and interviewed attendees from companies including Morgan Stanley and Mayo Capital Partners. The article said, "[Pro Farmer's] annual measurement often moves commodity and stock prices, and it will be watched closely as traders debate by how much the U.S. Department of Agriculture will reduce its forecast next month."

The Tour also received coverage throughout the week by Bloomberg, Thomson Reuters, Dow Jones, the Des Moines Register and many radio stations and networks associated with the National Association of Farm Broadcasters (NAFB). Farm Journal's own "AgDay" and "U.S. Farm Report" television programs followed the Tour closely, as did the company's website, AgWeb.com.

The seven evening events had record attendance—just over 2,000 total—with sponsorship by Pioneer, a DuPont business; SFP (Specialty Fertilizer Products); RCIS (Rural Community Insurance Services); and Chevy Truck. The final evening report and meeting, in Austin, Minn., attracted 600 attendees. The panel report will be featured this weekend on the nationally syndicated television program "U.S. Farm Report."

Joining the 2011 Tour were more than 30 producer-scouts and representatives from more than 35 leading agribusiness companies, including Credit Suisse, Bunge North America and Rain & Hail. The Tour hosted several international representatives, including a special delegation of grain buyers, researchers and agricultural officials from China.

Pro Farmer Editor Chip Flory commented, "We've always embraced the idea of being an educator to the media on agricultural crop production subjects and have received strong business media coverage of Crop Tour. A number of top money managers have participated in recent years, and we have seen that participation increase dramatically with volatility in the commodity markets and the keen interest in this year's crop."

The Tour is an integral part of the process by which Pro Farmer makes its annual national corn and soybean production estimates. Pro Farmer's estimate for corn came in at 12.484 billion bushels, averaging 147.9 bu. per acre. The soybean crop is estimated at 3.083 billion bushels, with an average yield of 41.8 bu. per acre. For more details, click here to read the Aug. 27 edition of the Pro Farmer newsletter: www.agweb.com/crop_tour_newsletter.

About Professional Farmers of America

Professional Farmers of America, based in Cedar Falls, Iowa, publishes the nation's largest news and market advisory newsletter, Pro Farmer. The company also publishes a seven-times-daily email market advisory service, Pro Farmer Today, the LandOwner newsletter and several voice and text alert services. The Midwest Crop Tour, conducted by Pro Farmer since 1993, is the largest private crop report of its kind. Covering seven states representing over 70% of the nation's corn and soybean acres, the Midwest Crop Tour annually gathers qualitative and quantitative data about each year's corn and soybean production potential.

About Farm Journal Media

Farm Journal Media is the nation's leading agricultural media company. Its magazines are the 134-year-old flagship FARM JOURNAL, TOP PRODUCER, BEEF TODAY, DAIRY TODAY and IMPLEMENT & TRACTOR. The company produces and distributes the "AgDay," "U.S. Farm Report," "Corn College TV," Leave a Legacy TV" and "Outdoors on the Farm" national TV programs and produces the industry-leading website AgWeb.com and the syndicated radio show "Consumer Ag Connection." Farm Journal Media also licenses detailed industry data through its FarmReach™ database, publishes the Pro Farmer and LandOwner newsletters, produces numerous large-scale live events and provides extensive custom publishing services.

For more information contact:

Chip Flory
Phone: 319.268.4353
Email: [email protected]

SOURCE Farm Journal Media