The hard red spring wheat tour is scheduled across the Northern Plains this week. The only problem is that the spring wheat harvest started last week and tour participants will have to hustle to tell us about the crop's potential when it's already in the bin. Every crop was planted early across the U.S. this past spring, and the hot and dry summer has pushed crops to a very early maturity, which will mean an early harvest. A railroad friend used to describe very fast-paced harvests as "weather directed." That is what we will see this year unless weather takes a late turn towards much cooler and wetter as the fall season approaches. Crop tours are as much (maybe more) social events as they are real crop fact-finding events. The tour dates...