What does American agriculture look like from the ground?

In the latest episode of Keep America Growing, NCIS President Tom Zacharias takes listeners along on the Pro Farmer Crop Tour to hear directly from farmers, crop insurance professionals and others walking the fields and assessing this year’s corn and soybean crops.

RCIS President Dalynn Hoch, who hosted Zacharias on the Tour, described it as an opportunity to travel across key agricultural states and get “boots on the ground,” measuring crops, counting pods and getting a great “first look at what yields might look like.”

And those firsthand observations provide a vivid reminder of just how quickly conditions, and fortunes, can change in agriculture.

Near Nebraska City, young farmers Andy and Will Neals told Zacharias that their crops were looking good. But just 30 miles north, rainfall totals were six to seven inches lower. Only three miles south, 90-mile-an-hour winds had caused significant crop damage.

For young farmers already facing tight margins and rising costs, that kind of uncertainty makes managing risk increasingly important.

“The risk just keeps getting greater year by year,” Andy said, pointing to higher costs for seed, chemicals and fertilizer. On a 100-percent rain-fed operation, he added, “you can’t afford not to have crop insurance.”

Zacharias also visited with Kyle Kreifels, a southeast Nebraska farmer and crop insurance agent, who discussed recent improvements to crop insurance in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act that make additional coverage more affordable for producers.

“I think what that bill has done is equipped our farmers with tools to really, really protect themselves,” Kreifels said, noting that the improved coverage can help ensure farmers are able to farm “the next year, the year after.”

From promising Iowa soybeans — including one surprising sample that Hoch called a “monster with 250 pod count” — to wind-damaged Nebraska corn, the Crop Tour illustrates fundamental truths about farming. There really is no such thing as an average growing season, which makes risk management so important.

Listen to the latest episode of Keep America Growing to hear what Zacharias discovered along the way.