Editors' Notebook

It's hard to believe next week will be our fifth DTN Digital Yield Tour Powered by Gro Intelligence. What started out as an experiment to bring modern-world data and intelligence to the crop prognostication business has turned into a highly read, and very accurate, look at how the U.S. corn and soybean crops are faring as we go through pollination and head for black layer.

The stories around this year's yield expectations will start Monday, Aug. 8. If you've been following past yield tours, you'll note we've made a significant change for year five: We'll kick off with Gro's national yield predictions on Monday, followed by the traditional state-by-state breakdowns throughout the week. In previous years we started with the states, kicking off in the northern Midwest and working our way east through the week, ending with the national numbers on the last day.

Our previous schedule mimicked a traditional on-the-ground crop tour, announcing state estimates then adding them up to an overall number. While that was a familiar pacing, to be honest, it didn't take full advantage of the power of estimating yields with satellite imagery and high-powered artificial intelligence: These yield models are churning out predictions daily, so why not kick off the tour with a national total and give readers that valuable information as quickly as possible.

The daily state-level yield stories will then dig into details of how those totals came to be. As in years past, we'll combine Gro's state predictions with comments from farmers, agronomists and others on the ground in those areas, plus detailed weather analysis from DTN Ag Meteorologist John Baranick.

For more information on what data will be discussed throughout the week, see DTN Ag Business Editor Katie Dehlinger's pre-tour story here: https://www.dtnpf.com/….

Baranick is also weighing in with additional analysis on the most recent weather, so be sure to check out his Ag Weather Forum blog elsewhere on our DTN digital products.

If you want to really do your homework ahead to the digital yield tour, check out our analysis of the latest USDA Crop Progress report here: https://www.dtnpf.com/….

We'll have an update of those weekly reports around 3 p.m. CDT on Aug. 8, right after the USDA data is available.

You can also contribute to the Digital Yield Tour by using the hashtag #dtnyieldtour22 on Twitter. If you miss any stories, all the yield tour content will be archived here: https://spotlights.dtnpf.com/….

I'd note that Friday, Aug. 12, the last day of our Yield Tour, is the next World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates (WASDE) report from USDA. As with every month, DTN's news and analysis team will have the WASDE results out shortly after 11:00 a.m. CDT, and we'll have regular updates throughout the following hour to add analysis to the government's raw numbers. As always, DTN Lead Analyst Todd Hultman will have his post-WASDE webinar at 12:30 p.m. CDT, discussing the numbers and the market's reaction to them and taking your questions. To register for that webinar, go here: https://www.dtn.com/….

We are honored by the continued relationship with Gro Intelligence and with their willingness to let our readers peer into their data-driven crystal ball for a short period of time. It is truly astonishing that this is our fifth event. And given the state of world soybean and corn supplies, I for one am more anxious to learn the numbers this year than ever.

But even I don't get to see them until next week!

Greg D. Horstmeier can be reached at greg.horstmeier@dtn.com

Follow him on Twitter @greghorstmeier

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