The U.S.D.A.’s weekly crop report issued Monday afternoon says crop conditions declined for the second straight week due to a lack of rain, though most crops are still rated in good to excellent condition. Randy Toenjes planted all corn on his 1,300 acres in Jones County near Monticello, but says his neighbors who planted soybeans are getting concerned.
“There’s beans that have been replanted in the area, there’s some beans that are really spotted and scattered and very uneven. We did pick up eight tenths of an inch last week and so that might have help some, but there are some problems that need to be addressed yet,” Toenjes says.
Southwest Iowa is driest with 77% of fields there considered short-to-very-short of topsoil moisture. Toenjes says more rain would be nice for his corn, but it’s not time to panic.
“I think we’re a little more personally nervous than is necessary. We are definitely short of topsoil moisture, but the subsoil moisture was full going into planting season and the corn doesn’t use that much moisture this time of year,” Toenjes explains.
The U.S.D.A. report shows 98% of the planted corn-has emerged from the soil. That’s about six-days ahead of normal. Nearly all of the soybean acreage is planted, and 84% of the soybeans are now out of the ground, well ahead of the five-year average for this stage in the growing season.
The corn condition is rated 1% very poor, 4% poor, 20% fair, 55% good, and 20% excellent. The first soybean condition rating finds 1% very poor, 5% poor, 23% fair, 59% good, and 12% excellent.