At 6-foot-3, I’m taller than the average crop scout. But I can easily get lost in some of these
Nebraska corn fields this year. Plants in some fields are more than 10 feet tall, with ears as big as my forearm. Get into a good spot in the field and the canopy completely blocks out the sky, ruining any chances of navigating by the sun. The crop scout’s goodie bag contains a calculator, insect repellent, sunscreen, but no compass and no GPS.

It’s not unheard of for a scout on the tour to get lost in such a jungle. A few years back, one woman got lost after she mistakenly walked in the wrong direction after taking a sample. The sound of the corn’s thick leaves rustling in the wind drowned out her fellow scouts’ attempts to guide her back to the car by honking the horn. She emerged more than an hour later on the other end of the field, slightly shaken but with a vivid story to tell later at the crop scout meeting. The corn crop will no doubt be a bin-buster this year as farmers planted more acres than any time since 1944. The U.S. Agriculture Department on Aug. 1 estimated Nebraska’s crop at 1.4616 billion bushels, up from 1.178 billion last year. Yields were seen at 168 bushels per acre, up 10.5 percent from last year’s 152 bpa crop, according to the USDA.

U.S. production was projected at a record 13.054 billion bushels, shattering the previous record of 11.807 billion bushels set in 2004. Ethanol plants have been building additional storage in recent years to hold more of this massive crop, but no doubt there will be corn piled on the ground somewhere come harvest time. Many farmers have also been investing in more of their own storage bins to take advantage of the carry in the market. But many grain elevators in this area are in a precarious position. Growers have more options than ever for their grain holding needs so some elevators have been slow to expand their storage capacity. However, some new shiny steel bins have sprouted alongside the older concrete bins typically seen around the

Corn Belt. It will be interesting to see where all this corn goes as farmers inevitably plant more and more corn for the ethanol, livestock, and export sectors while science pushes the upper limits of yield potential.