Iowa farmers have finished the majority of the harvest of the state’s two biggest crops — soybeans and corn. Iowa Ag Secretary Patty Judge says the early numbers for beans aren’t stellar. She says the average yield for soybeans is 34-bushels-per-acre, down from previous yeas as she says the beans took the brunt of the lack of moisture in late summer. The corn crop fared a little better. She says the average yields for corn are about 150 to 160-bushels-per-acre, which she says is “respectable.” Judge says there was concern the dry weather would totally devastate the crops, but that hasn’t proven to be true. She says the yields and prices should be good enough to get farmers through the winter. Judge says the drought was a problem for other areas of agriculture too. She says pastures dried up and that caused people to have to use their hay up earlier than normal, and that could become a problem. The dry weather came after good spring rain that had raised hopes, but Judge says that goes with the territory. She says it looked like we were set to have a record crop until the drought, but she says that’s what you expect out of this industry where you are at the whim of nature. Judge says farmers who found they didn’t get some of the better yields can get federal help as the affected counties were declared disaster areas. She says you should contact the F-S-A office in your county to find out how to sign up.