Corn growing in northeast Iowa.
Cold and wet conditions put field work in the state on hold last week and progress in corn planting dropped behind the five-year average for the first time this season.
The U.S.D.A. crop report shows corn planting is 97 percent complete, while soybean planting hit 78 percent complete — one week behind 2014, and four days behind average.
Riley Lewis farms 2,000 acres near Forest City in north Iowa and has corn that is up. “I would say that our corn crop is in very good condition. Good stand. We’ve had about nine inches of rain in the last two months,” Lewis says. He’s like to see Mother Nature turn up the heat.
“The thing that we’re lacking up here is the heat degree units,” Lewis explains, “with the cold weather that we’ve had and the nights — it’s kind of slowed the crops down. If we had three or four days of 75 to 85-degree temperatures, it would be great.”
The crop report shows 90 percent of corn has emerged, which is two days ahead of the average. Eighty percent of the corn is rated in good-to-excellent condition.