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Western Route
August 17 — 20
Start: Sioux Falls, SD◆
Day 1: Grand Island, NE
Day 2: Nebraska City, NE
Day 3: Spencer, IA
Day 4: Rochester, MN
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Crop Conditions
Corn
Pollination was reasonably good across most fields and better than expected for the challenging areas. Modern hybrids continue to demonstrate strong stress tolerance, resulting in good kernel counts. (South-Central Nebraska)
Soybeans
Minimal disease observations at this point. Weather conditions have not been conducive to many soybean diseases.(Northwest Iowa)
Western Route Highlights
(Reports from local Pioneer field agronomists)
Western Route Updates
- West Day 1
- West Day 2
- West Day 3
- West Day 4
Day 1 Stops on the Route
Sioux Falls, SD →
Grand Island, NE
August 17
Pioneer Leader — Kevin Keller
Field Agronomist
South-Central Nebraska
“GDU accumulation was inconsistent early, resulting in average to slightly delayed crop development through vegetative growth. Warm July temperatures accelerated development, allowing much of the crop to catch up by early grain fill.”
Crop Conditions — South-Central Nebraska
Corn
- Growth & Development: GDU accumulation was inconsistent early, resulting in average to slightly delayed crop development through vegetative growth. Warm July temperatures accelerated development, allowing much of the crop to catch up by early grain fill.
- Stand Establishment: Pre-watered irrigated fields again showed a clear advantage following another dry spring.
- We continue to observe a long-term trend. Very early April planting often results in more uniform stands than late April or early May planting due to more favorable soil conditions.
- Early-Season Challenges: Herbicide response was more common than normal. High humidity, aggressive tank mixes, and heavier adjuvant loads contributed to temporary crop injury across many fields.
- Wind, hail, and localized heavy rainfall created uneven stands and forced some replanting, although many damaged fields recovered surprisingly well.
- Irrigation: Irrigation management became one of the biggest challenges of the season. Allocated groundwater, canal systems, and lower-capacity wells struggled to meet crop demand during the extended July heat.
- Plant Growth & Pollination: Plants were generally shorter with reduced internode elongation, leading to less tassel extension and sometimes lower incidences of Tassel Wrap.
- Tassel emergence was more variable than normal, likely reflecting early-season root stress rather than emergence alone.
- Pollination was reasonably good across most fields and better than expected for the challenges. Modern hybrids continue to demonstrate strong stress tolerance, resulting in good kernel counts.
- Disease:
- Bacterial Diseases: Bacterial Leaf Streak, Systemic Goss’s Wilt and Erwinia all have made a presence across south-central NE. Lack of residue decay and early weather events contributed to disease severity.
- Tar Spot: Second consecutive year of confirmed finds in south-central Nebraska. Disease pressure remained relatively light. Pioneer genetics combined with timely VT fungicide applications continue to perform well.
- Southern Rust: Arrived later than in 2024 and 2025, resulting in minimal impact at the time of this writing.
- Insects: Western bean cutworm flights began early, with significant localized pressure.
- Western corn rootworm pressure varied. Beetle emergence was noticeable later in the season.
- Spider mites remain an increasing concern, particularly west of Kearney under prolonged hot, dry conditions.
Soybeans
- Weed Control: Enlist® + glufosinate has been working very well. Residual herbicide performance varied with dry conditions. Spray programs designed to reduce herbicide injury on soybeans are showing benefits with early growth.
- Emergence: Rapid surface drying and heavy residue resulted in uneven emergence in some fields, similar to what we saw in 2025.
- Disease pressure remained relatively light.
- Decters stem borer pressure was low for the second consecutive year.
Photos — South-Central Nebraska
Pioneer Soybean Plot - Holdrege, NE
Dry / hard conditions impacting roots - Amherst, NE.
Non-uniform tassel emergence - Kearney, NE.
Systemic Goss’s wilt - Lexington, NE.
Impacts of Drought - Cambridge, NE.
Century of Innovation Plot - North Platte, NE.
Dry/ cloddy conditions impacting roots - Red Cloud, NE.
Northern corn leaf blight & Bacterial leaf spot - Heartwell, NE
Hailed Corn - Riverdale, NE.
Drought Stressed Pivot Corners - Kearney, NE.
Industry Spotlight
More Crop Tour Days
Day 2 Stops on the Route
Grand Island, NE →
Nebraska City, NE
August 18
Pioneer Leader — Casey Rankin
Field Agronomist
South-Central Nebraska
“Warm conditions and heavy rainfall fueled early, aggressive waterhemp growth, making it even more difficult to control. That pressure drove a notable increase in reliance on Pioneer's LibertyLink® and Enlist® system tolerance traits for control."
Crop Conditions — South-Central Nebraska
Corn
- Planting: As of 7/31 the vast majority of corn ranges from R3 to beginning R5 stage outside of some later planted/replant corn with the heavy spring rain.
- Early-planted corn (4/10) shows the largest GDU surplus versus the 30-year average, at 130-170 units ahead. That surplus narrows considerably for later planting dates (4/25 and 5/10), which are running just 15-60 GDUs above normal.
- Weather: Warm April weather sped up emergence for early-planted corn. Up and down temperatures later in the spring caused stand establishment issues that reduced final stand counts. In some cases varaible temps caused replant to take place across the area.
- July’s combination of scattered rainfall and high heat has taken a toll in some areas, with plants burning up stored sugars that would otherwise fill kernels.
- Insects: Pioneer sales representatives deployed Western Bean Cutworm traps to track moth levels across emergence & migration periods through central and notably southeast Nebraska. Given the pest’s growing threat in the eastern part of the state, these efforts led to meaningful in-field discussions, guiding growers on treatment decisions.
- Japanese Beetle populations were high in isolated areas.
- Disease: Growers proactively prepared to manage disease pressure this season. To date, the battle has clearly favored them. As of July 31, there was more NCLB than recent years, but nothing concerning.
- Southern Rust remains unconfirmed in the area, and Tar Spot has been successfully held in check.
Soybeans
- Stand Establisment: Soybean stands faced a tough road to establishment this year, caught between three extremes:
- fields that drowned out,
- fields that caught rain after planting then crusted over and
- fields that were too dry & had inconsistent moisture.
- Weather: A short late-April cold snap hit beans along field edges where the soil could not hold enough heat to protect them.
- High heat and low July rainfall had soybeans playing defense this past week by flipping their leaves.
- Crop Protection: Soybean pre-emergent residuals were challenged on both ends — too much rain in some areas, not enough to activate on time in others. Timely post applications of Enlist + Liberty have been excellent.
- Some instances of Phytophthora Root Rot & Stem Rot have appeared — but overall, minimal early disease pressure.
Photos — South-Central Nebraska
NCLB – Otoe County, NE.
Pioneer PK Plot – Nemaha County, NE.
WBCW larvae – Cass County NE.
Phytophthora – Gage County, NE
Japanese Beetles – Otoe County, NE.
Drone in action – Nemaha County, NE.
Beautiful field of late June Z-Series soybeans – Richardson County, NE.
Industry Spotlight
Soybean Product Performance / Traits
More Crop Tour Days
Day 3 Stops on the Route
Nebraska City, NE →
Spencer, IA
August 19
Pioneer Leader — Paul Panitzke
Field Agronomist
Northwest Iowa
"Early planted corn up until April 19th shows the best stands. (Corn planted) April 20–25th struggled with a two-week cold spell after planting. The cool late April and May slowed soybean emergence."
Crop Conditions — Northwest Iowa
Corn
- Growth Stage: Most fields are done shedding (July 29) with early planted fields (April 10–15) reaching R1 with some getting to R2.
- Stand Establishment: Early planted corn up until April 19 shows the best stand. Fields planted April 20–25 struggled with a two-week cold spell after planting. Rain events during that time caused crusting in areas of northwest Iowa.
- Cool weather continued for most of May which also brought severe weather causing crop damage. Quite a bit of replanting happened as a result of these challenging conditions.
- Thinner stands of 26 – 28k are common. Growth was slowed by the cool weather. Corn plants took a long time to really start pushing though growth stages.
- Warmer weather in July help move the crop along quicker. Tasseling started around July 5th on early planted corn.
- Storm Damage: Early July also brought several round of storms. Hail and wind hit different areas. Some brittle snap but more root lodging occurred. Most corn was able to stand back up, though there is some goose necking out there. Some pollinating may have been affected by corn leaning over at that time.
- Drought and heat: Variable amounts of rain hit northwest Iowa over the season. Some events were moderate, close to severe. The last two weeks have been extremely hot during the day as well as night time.
- These stresses have probably affected top end yield potential and severely affected corn in lower productivity areas of fields.
- Disease: As of the end of July there has not been much of any disease. Some Bacterial Leaf Streak is showing in certain products. But very little signs of the big four (NCLB, GLS, Tar Spot and Southern Rust).
- Goss's Wilt has shown up the last couple of years (more widespread in 2025) but we have yet to see it this summer. If conditions remain dry and hot disease may not play as much of a factor in 2026.
- Insect Pests: Corn Rootworm beetles are back with vengeance in some areas this year after light pressure in 2025. They showed up early. We have seen silk clipping in fields with a history of CRW problems.
Soybeans
- Growth Stage: Most beans are R3 with some early planted fields approaching R4.
- Emergence and Stand Establishment: Cool late April and May temperatures slowed soybean emergence. We saw a lot of stand counts in the 80 – 110k ppa range. No-till acres were affected far more than tilled fields.
- Soil crusting and storms caused growers to replant in many areas.
- Disease: Minimal observations at this point. Weather conditions have not been conducive to many soybean diseases.
- Weed Control: Weather during the post spraying window was suboptimal. Cooler and dryer conditions caused chemistry to lose effectiveness, and it did not matter which chemistry. We saw a lot of rescue sprays on fields with waterhemp escapes.
Photos — Northwest Iowa
Crusting: Kingsley, IA
Corn leafing out - Holstein, IA.
Silk Clipping - Holstein, IA.
Crusting on seedbed - Kingsley, IA.
Drought stress affecting lighter soils - Quimby, IA.
Missing pollination on root-lodged corn - Early, IA.
Wind event on strip trial plot - Le Mars, IA.
Industry Spotlight
Agronomy Trials and Partnerships
More Crop Tour Days
Day 4 — Final Stop
Spencer, IA →
Rochester, MN
August 20
Pioneer Leader — Josh Shofner
Field Agronomist
Southeast Minnesota
“Southeast Minnesota had dry but very cool conditions for most of April and May...June was very favorable, and stress factors were few and far between.”
Crop Conditions — Southeast Minnesota
Corn
- Planting: Southeast Minnesota had dry but very cool conditions for most of April and May. Planters hit the field in mid-April; the average planting date was ~April 28. Planting wrapped up by May 15.
- Growing Environment: Despite excellent soil conditions, cool temperatures resulted in some minor uneven emergence. Stand counts were in line with the 5-year average and came in at 95.1 percent in replicated PKP trials.
- No-till, reduced tillage, and cover crop systems had the most challenges this spring due to the cool conditions. Despite very good soil conditions, cool temperatures paired with cold soil temperatures led to more uneven emergence, crusting, and tight soils after planting; yet replant was very low across southeast Minnesota.
- Weather: Rainfall was slightly below average but very timely. The I90 corridor did encounter a narrow band of heavy rainfall at the end of June and beginning of July. That rain event led to some flooding and crop damage. However the corn stage, and overall dry conditions, allowed plants to handle the weather better than we exected.
- July had very warm conditions paired with high dew points that kept nighttime temperatures high. Corn rolled into August with accumulated GDU’s at ~ 1740 GDU’s, ahead of the 5-year average.
- Pair these conditions with early planting dates, and crop maturity is in a strong position for southeast Minnesota.
- Disease: Northern Corn Leaf Blight, Tar Spot, and Bacterial Leaf Streak have been the most common diseases observed. High temperatures may have slowed disease progression. However scouting will be important until late August.
- Fungicide: The new Granular Fungicide timing model has assisted a lot of growers in application timing this summer.
- Corn rootworm pressure observations have been below average. Other insect pressure has been low.
Soybeans
- Planting: Planting season was very similar to corn. WIth an early start and fast planting window; most soybean planting wrapped up by May 15 to May 18 under very good conditions.
- Weather: In some cases cold soil temperatures did lead to challenges. Several freezes during May dinged the crop. No-till acres were a challenge this year across the board for soybeans. The vast majority of replant took place in no-till and cover crop systems.
- Stand Counts: Despite no-till challenges, soybean stand counts were good. The average planting date was May 4, with a stand establishment of 83.4 percent. This was an improvement over the past two springs.
- Increasing seeding rates on April-planted soybeans has improved our stands on those early windows.
- Waterhemp is still a challenge; the Enlist® system is still the strongest when paired with a good pre.
- Disease: A couple of heavy rain events led to some case of Phytophthora Root Rot. White Mold was observed in some historically high pressure areas by late July.
Photos — Southeast Minnesota
Armyworm feeding became widespread in this corn field after a dense cover crop was terminated. Cover crops can serve as an egg-laying and food source for armyworms, and once vegetation is depleted, they can and will move into the corn. Photo: Josh Shofner.
Patchy stand loss caused by white grub feeding. Grubs consume roots and underground plant tissue, leaving scattered areas of missing or weakened corn plants. Photo: Josh Shofner.
Northern Corn Leaf Blight beginning to establish in this corn field. Extended periods of leaf wetness, moderate temperatures, and susceptible hybrids favored disease development. Photo: Josh Shofner.
Phytophthora root and stem rot showing up after the heavy late-June rains. A reminder of how weather can quickly expose field variability and disease pressure. Photo: Josh Shofner.
Reduced-tillage soybeans struggled to emerge after a cold rain sealed the seedbed. Photo: Josh Shofner.
A cold, dry spring caused corn seedlings to break through the soil unevenly or contend with a mild crust. Photo: Josh Shofner.
Industry Spotlights
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Pioneer’s Next 100 Years
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Our unmatched team of local professionals live and work in your community. They’re ready to help you select high-yielding products and provide year-round service and expertise. Have questions? Ask your local Pioneer sales representative today.
Our unmatched team of local professionals live and work in your community. They’re ready to help you select high-yielding products and provide year-round service and expertise. Have questions? Ask your local Pioneer sales representative today.