I thought I read somewhere that the numbers that they put out each night are just a report of the fields that they actually walk into and sample. They are not what they are predicting for each state's estimated yield. Is this not correct? If it is there are a lot of folks on this forum who are misinformed. I keep seeing posts by folks that imply that the numbers they put out are what they are predicting for a state average. I do not believe this is the case. They don't put out actual tour estimates until Thurs evening I think. And then Fri they put out Pro Farmer's estimates. The article I read seemed to go to great lengths to differentiate the "tour estimate" from the "Pro Farmer estimate". I think folks should compare this year's sample results to past year's results to get the "trend". I know it's a near impossible task this year and I also know that "everyone" knows what the "trend" is--it is just hard to discern the "magnitude". Please understand that I am not promoting or trying to defend Pro Farmer. However I believe that they do a decent job of reporting what they find in the field samples and it is up to the reader to make of it what they will. I think the tour is a good annual demonstration of the very difficult job of trying to estimate a growing crop over such a large area--by any organization. There are just so many variables--some are important some years--others, not so much.