Parts of the state got some rain this week and Iowa Agriculture Secretary Bill Northey says that has helped quell some of the concern about harvest-related fires. Northey says we normally don’t want rain during the harvest, but he says a little big of rain takes away some of the fire risk and some of the dust from harvest.
He says as dry as things have been, it doesn’t take long to get back into the fields after a rain. The dry weather is one of many things that have impacted farmers this year, but Northey says there’s a lot of optimism as the harvest progresses.
Northey says he’s been hearing about some pretty good yields in spite of a summer of some “very strange and wild weather.” Northey farms near Spirit Lake and says he’s heard some good numbers from the harvest there.
He says there’ve been soybean yields in the 50 and 60 bushels-an-acre range and corn yields of 170-bushels an acre or better. Northey says he’s not sure how the statewide harvest averages will shake out, but says he’s heard a lot of positive things.